Bound To Be Dead: Cozy Mystery Bookshop Series Book 3

by Tamra Baumann

  Renee sets the swing in motion again. “You still have most of the money from the wine your mom left you, right?”

  I nod as I swallow. “And Gage said I might have a claim to some of the cash, especially if my uncle takes away all the real estate.”

  “Then there’s that.” Renee smiles weakly. “We really need to figure out a way to start up your new restaurant. This town needs a decent place to eat.”

  “It does.” I scrape the bottom of my cup. I hadn’t realized I’d wolfed it so quickly. “But for now, I’m going to tackle one problem at a time—mainly getting my dad off the hook. Makes things seem less overwhelming that way.”

  “Yep.” Renee stands. “You’ve always been good at compartmentalizing. Maybe too good.” She starts down the steps, but stops midway and turns. “Dylan is in one of those compartments. Maybe it’s time to let him out of that cubicle.”

  I stand and move to the rail. “I won’t be rushed because I need a place to live. He deserves better than that.”

  “He does.” Renee smiles. “But he can’t hurt you when he’s tucked away in a box. It’s time to open that compartment before it’s too late.” She lifts a hand and keeps walking. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Take care.”

  “Thanks. You too.” I let her words sink in while she strolls down the street with her long strides.

  Maybe she’s right. I’m going to have to make some big decisions sooner than I thought, apparently. But seriously? My uncle is going to kick me out of my house before the holidays?

  Not if I can prove he killed Tina first.

  I shake my head and open the front door. An emergency book club meeting in the morning might just do the trick!

  Once inside, I head for the kitchen and find it empty and dark. Whenever I’m upset, I like to bake, so I pull out my phone and search for a new recipe. I want to make something I’ve never made before, so I’ll force my brain to stay focused on the task and not think about my troubles. Sometimes when I completely distract myself, answers come. I hope this is one of those times.

  I settle on a recipe by a famous chef who claims to make the best chocolate chip cookies on earth. Gooey in the middle and perfectly crispy on the edges. Seems millions agree in the comments, so we’ll see for ourselves.

  As I peruse the recipe, a few things stand out. First, the recipe calls for both cake flour and bread flour. Second, it has to be refrigerated for at least twenty-four hours before baking. Shoot. I was in the mood for more dessert tonight.

  Fine. Maybe by the time I make the cookies tomorrow night, we’ll have found our killer.

  Just as I finish lining up all my ingredients, the doorbell rings. No one is stirring upstairs, so I make my way to the foyer and open the door.

  On my porch stands a smug giant of a man. “Hi, Uncle Frank. Come in.” I step aside, resigned to the inevitable conversation.

  He rushes silently past me and plants himself on the antique red couch in the living room.

  “Hello to you too,” I whisper as I close the door. So much for polite conversation before he drops the ax.

  After joining him in the living room, I flop into a saggy old side chair. “What brings you by?”

  “Really, Sawyer?” He crosses his big arms. “The trust. Obviously.”

  I draw a deep breath for courage. “Something has changed there, actually. Brittany has gone back to live with her mom. So now we can go back to the way things were. All settled.”

  “Good try.” An evil grin lights his face. “But not happening. Your mom broke the rules. Claiming to be absentminded won’t get her out of yet another mistake.”

  Rage clenches my fists. “Mom was sick when she adopted Brittany. Maybe she wasn’t thinking clearly because of chemo. Have you considered that?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head. “Your mother never cared to follow the rules, so now she’ll pay the price. Or, rather, you will.”

  I stand to pace. I have to do something with all my pent-up anger. “You’ve always had control of most of Mom’s assets, barring what little she was allowed to use. Why not leave things as they are? It’s what your parents wanted.”

  Frank shakes his head. “Stop with the sympathy plea. You lost. I won. Gage knows that, or he wouldn’t be trying to settle things before our court date next week.”

  “So then why are you here talking to me? Talk to Gage.” You heartless jerk. “Have a good night.” I hold out my hand in invitation for him to leave.

  He doesn’t budge.

  “It’s not that simple, Sawyer. Calm down and take a seat. We’ll go over things.”

  Refusing to be bullied, I continue to stand. “What things?” He’s up to something, or he would’ve sorted it all out with Gage.

  He slides a check onto the coffee table. “I’m prepared to offer you this cash settlement today if you’ll leave town immediately. But in return, I’d need to postdate the trust paperwork changes until next year. For tax purposes.”

  I see right through this charade. He wants time to officially separate from my aunt before he inherits half the trust. That way, he won’t have to share. And if I’m gone from Sunset Cove, he thinks Aunt Carol won’t find out I lost my share of the trust. “Not interested. I’m sure Gage has made you a fair offer.”

  My uncle’s face turns three shades of red. “Fine. I’ll make it enough to cover the brat’s college too, if that’s what it’ll take.” He pulls out his checkbook and scribbles out another check. He drops it next to the other one on the table. “Brittany going to college was what you were most concerned about, right?”

  “Not only that.” I’m tempted to look, but I ignore the checks. “Preserving my mother’s legacy is right up there too.”

  Uncle Frank grunts. “You mean this run-down house and the failing bookstore she left you? That legacy?” Sarcasm drips from his lips. “The other properties assigned to her are ones I’ve managed all these years, or they’d be in shambles too.”

  Now I’m mad again. “You never showed her any respect. Mom was nothing but kind and good to everyone, even you. Instead of being grateful for receiving so much more than she did, you honestly think it should all belong to you? How can you be so incredibly selfish?” There. Finally, I said it. I wish it made me feel better instead of just sick to my stomach.

  My uncle raises a brow. “My parents set up the trust, with the clause your mother broke, for good reasons, Sawyer. They sat her down and carefully explained that if it weren’t for you and Meg, they would have left her nothing. I bet she never told you that part, did she?”

  Nope. Never heard that—probably another lie.

  I’m seriously tempted to hit him. Instead, I say, “Get out of my house. Now!”

  My uncle’s jaw clenches. “You mean, my house.” He stands and towers over me. “The offer is only good until tomorrow at this time. And if you turn it down, I’ll keep you in court so long, anything you would have gotten from the trust will all go to the lawyers. Sign these before you cash the checks.” He slaps a bundle of legal papers on the table before storming out of the room.

  The sharp slam of the front door reverberates through my chest like a gunshot. Or maybe that’s just my heart breaking. Could it be true about my grandparents? Or did my uncle make that up to hurt me?

  I drop onto the couch and hold my head in my hands. If I refuse his bribe money and he keeps me in court, he’d still win because the transfer of assets wouldn’t happen until later anyway. He’d lose a little more because he’d assume correctly that I’d tell my Aunt Carol, but she’d still have no right to any of my mom’s shares if he got them after they’re divorced. It’s pretty much lose-lose for me and win-win for him. I’ll have to text Gage and tell him what happened tonight to see what he thinks.

  My eyes slowly open, but I quickly shut them again. I don’t want to look at the checks on the coffee table. They might tempt me to take the money and run. And unlike the last time, I don’t want to run. I want to stay in Sunset Cove. That’s the only
thing I’m sure of these days.

  When a hand drops on my shoulder, I nearly jump out of my skin. I lift my head, relieved it’s a friendly face. “Hi, Dad.”

  “Hi, Jellybean. I heard some of that but didn’t want to interrupt.” He sits next to me.

  “Was it true what he said about grandma and grandpa?”

  “Yes. And no.” Dad lets out a long sigh and grips my hand. “Your mother and I wouldn’t ever have let you go hungry, although that’s what your grandparents claimed to fear. What is true, though, is they didn’t see eye to eye with your mom. Your mother didn’t think anyone needed as much wealth as your grandparents had. Especially when there are so many needy people in the world. So they put Frank in charge. But the real crime here is that your grandparents wanted you and Meg to have what was your mother’s one day and Frank is trying to stop that from happening. They loved you very much.”

  I know they did. We loved them too. “Instead, Uncle Frank has just been waiting for Mom to screw up so he could swoop in and take it all away.”

  Dad nods. “But at the end of the day, it’s just stuff, Sawyer. I find it rather freeing to have so few possessions.”

  One of those possessions being money. I’ve always found Dad’s lifestyle stressful, but I understand his sentiment. “Stuff that doesn’t belong to him. But you’re right. We have bigger problems right now. Like how to get you off the suspect list for Tina’s death.”

  “Thank you for your concern.” Dad pats my leg. “But maybe it’s time to worry about yourself for a change. I have faith Dylan and his men will find the truth.” Dad picks up the checks, and his eyes widen. “On second thought, maybe you should cash these. That’s a lot of dough.”

  I slowly reach for the checks and venture a peek. It’s a quarter of a million bucks. Which is a fraction of what Uncle Frank will get if he sells the properties that I can’t sell, per the trust.

  But still, a heck of a lot of money.

  What am I going to do?

  Early Thursday morning, I called and ask Madge and the Admiral to join me at my bookstore at eleven for a brainstorming session. It was too short notice to invite the whole group, so I’d settled for the most creative thinkers.

  Now, I have to deal with my uncle, so I’m sitting in Gage’s office while he and my uncle negotiate on the phone. Gage confirmed earlier that my uncle could easily keep me in court long enough to eat away the cash I’m entitled to from the trust. Unless I take his offer.

  It’s all pretty depressing.

  Gage slaps the phone down while spitting out a string of curse words. “Frank won’t budge on the terms. If you cash the checks, he won’t fund them until you sign the contract. This means you can’t talk about the case, specifically to Carol, and you agree to never reside full-time in Sunset Cove ever again.”

  I’d been up half the night rereading the trust and Frank’s new contract, searching for a loophole. Seems Gage can’t find one either. The only good thing about holding out and making my uncle take me to court is that I can stay in my house until the case is settled. “Okay. Wait an hour and call him back. Tell him I don’t want his bribe, and I won’t sign his contract. And that I will do everything in my power to be sure he’s never reelected mayor again.”

  Gage sighs. “That last part might not be as easy as you think. No one else wants his job.”

  I stand and collect my things. “Then maybe I’ll take it. He’s going to put me out of my job, so maybe I’ll take his.”

  “Sounds reasonable.” Gage takes off his glasses and polishes them. “Why am I waiting for an hour?”

  “Because I’m going to talk to Aunt Carol right now. After I’ve told her all I know about her cheating husband and the trust, I’ll hand her the name of the best divorce attorney San Francisco has to offer.”

  Gage smiles. “‘Revenge should have no bounds.’ Shakespeare, Hamlet.”

  I stop in my tracks. “‘Sweet is revenge—especially to women.’ Byron, Don Juan.” I resume my exit and call out, “As sarcastic as I think Byron meant that, it feels pretty darned true at the moment. I’ll call you later.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  Gage’s fading chuckles give me the courage I need to face my aunt. I don’t like to hurt people. And my aunt must love my uncle, or she never would have stayed so long. However, I have one more task I dread even more, but it’s for my dad’s sake.

  I need to find out if Aunt Carol killed Tina.

  Chapter 15

  My hand feels encased in lead as I raise it to knock on my aunt and uncle’s front door. I confirmed with Woo-Woo Beth that my uncle was in his office, so there’s no risk of running into him, but I need to hurry before Gage calls Uncle Frank. There’s no telling what he’ll do when he learns I’m not going to play his game.

  One thing’s for sure, he’d do everything in his power to stop what I’m about to do.

  I throw my shoulders back to look confident as I wait on the front steps of the most prominent house in town. Hope that my aunt rather than my dad killed Tina wars with equal optimism that she didn’t. I like her too much.

  The door swings open, and my aunt’s whole face lights up. “Hi, Sawyer. This is a fun surprise.”

  “Hi, Aunt Carol.” I force a smile. “Do you have time for a quick chat?”

  “Absolutely. I’m just taking the last of my cookies out of the oven. We can have them with some tea,” she says in her quiet, soothing voice.

  I follow my petite aunt down a long hallway to her kitchen. She’s half my uncle’s size, has pretty sable-colored hair, and constant understanding in her blue eyes. Something about her makes me miss my mom fiercely, so I haven’t spent as much time with her as I should’ve since I’ve been back in town.

  After passing a vast polished dining room table and the fancy living room filled with furniture I couldn’t begin to afford, we step into my aunt’s shiny new kitchen. She’d asked me for advice about the appliances and finishes a few months ago, and it appears she took it. “This turned out amazing!” The marriage of stainless-steel professional appliances with the wood cabinets’ warm earth tones looks like something out of a magazine. Sharp, clean, and expensive. Just like the rest of the house.

  “Couldn’t have done it without you.” Carol waves a hand toward the island. “Have a seat, and I’ll fix us right up.” She grabs the hot cookie pan and sets it on the granite countertop. Perfectly baked sugar cookies fill the air with sweet temptation as she slides them onto a cooling rack.

  After filling two plates with cookies, she slides one in front of me. “Why do you look as though you’ve just lost your best friend, honey?”

  I could never fool her.

  “I need to talk to you about something…difficult.” I take a bite of perfectly crispy sweetness and withhold the moan that wants to escape. “But maybe we should just enjoy these amazing cookies for a minute first.”

  “Let me guess.” My aunt crosses the kitchen and pours out two cups of tea. “You’re here to ask me where I was when Tina was killed?”

  My cookie stops halfway to my lips. “Why would I ask you that?” My heart starts galloping. How could she possibly have guessed that? Is she going to confess to murder?

  She hands me a cup of tea. “Because Beth told me you found out about Frank and Tina. And per Beth’s visions, you need to know if I killed Tina out of jealousy or revenge, right?”

  I can’t believe my aunt is discussing this as if it’s no more important than the weather. “That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.” I set my cookie down and hold my breath.

  “One question first. If I killed Tina, do you think I’d confess to you?”

  “No.” I swallow the anxiety rising in my throat. “But I wasn’t going to ask you straight up. I was going to ask some questions and watch your reactions. See if I could get you to tell me where you were last weekend during the fundraiser.”

  “Mmm.” My aunt takes a bit of a cookie. “I guess working in your mom’s bookshop has made an a
mateur sleuth out of you.”

  “Maybe.” I take a long drink of tea to clear my throat. “I don’t go looking for trouble. Lately, it just seems to find me.”

  Smiling, Aunt Carol slides onto the barstool beside me. “I spent the day in the city being an indulgent grandmother. Blakely and I hit the toy store first, had lunch, went to the aquarium, and then got ice cream before I took her home. Dylan was by earlier, and I gave him permission to check my credit card to confirm.”

  “Oh.” I release the breath I’d been holding. “Thank goodness.” So, Dylan is one step ahead of me again.

  “You looked like you were going to pass out there for a moment.” The corners of my aunt’s eyes crinkle as she takes a sip of tea.

  I turn and face her. “I know you’d never hurt anyone. I just had to confirm to be sure.”

  Carol nods as she sets her cup down. “Dylan said something similar. And he looked almost as uncomfortable as you did while he asked. I’ve always liked him.”

  “Me too. But there’s something else I need to tell you. About the trust. Seems my mom violated one of the terms…” I tell my aunt about the deal my uncle tried to make and my suspicion that he’s trying to separate from her before the end of the year, so he won’t have to share.

  Carol silently nods as she listens.

  When I’m done, she sighs. “Thank you for telling me, Sawyer. Now that I know he made you that offer, I can hopefully prove he was trying to hide assets. But it also means I’ll need to act faster than I’d anticipated.”

  “I figured, so I did something I hope will help.” I grab the slip of paper with the lawyer’s name and number from my pocket and hand it to her. “She comes highly recommended and will take your call in ten minutes if you choose to talk with her. That’s about the same time Uncle Frank is going to know I turned down his offer. If you need money Frank can’t trace, I’ll sell the wine my mother left me to help you. You can pay me back later.”

  Tears form in the corners of my aunt’s eyes as she accepts the slip of paper. “This is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.” My aunt stands and hugs me. “And thank you for the wine offer, but I’ve been stashing away cash for years just for this very moment. He won’t know what hit him.”