Chocolate-Covered Crime (3 page)

After pulling myself to my feet, I peeked over the top.
Horror
. Joe stood, cell phone pointed at me, and snapped another picture.

“What are you doing?” I ducked until only my eyes peered over the rim.

He grinned. “Sending another picture to Ethan. He loves this stuff. He’ll especially appreciate the one of your behind while you’re Dumpster diving.”

“Don’t you dare!” I tried pulling myself over and out but ended up sliding back to the bottom.

“Too late.” He frowned at me as I perched on top of garbage. “I think the question here is, what are you doing?”

“Uh, snooping?” I held out a hand for him to grasp. My foot slipped, and my gaze slid downward. At the bottom of my plastic prison lay a pair of black leather gloves. A telltale scarlet stain splattered across them. “Bingo!”

“Don’t touch anything!”

I shrieked and clasped a hand to my chest. “There’s no need to give me a heart attack.”

“Come on. Get out of there. I’ll have a team here in seconds.”

“Why didn’t they search the alley to begin with?”

“They’re still inside. It doesn’t take long for you to get in trouble.” He helped me from the Dumpster. His eyes raked over me, and he wiped his hand down his pant leg. “Go home, clean up, and. . .”

“I know, stay out of it.” I’m sure my family will engrave those words on my tombstone. I hobbled down the alley and banged on the back door of Summer Confections.

Aunt Eunice opened it. “What in the world happened to you?” Before I could step inside and answer, Joe joined me. “Goodness. Both of you coming in the back like servants.” Her disapproving tone washed over me as she moved aside.

Joe removed his hat and fiddled with the brim. “Aunt Eunice, I need to ask you something. Can we sit down?”

“Sure. There’s a table in front.” She wrinkled her nose. “Summer, you stink. What have you been doing?”

“Dumpster diving.”

“Of all the things to be doing. Don’t you have everything you need? No reason to dig in someone else’s garbage.” She waved a hand in my direction. “Stay behind the counter. We don’t want the customers getting wind of you.”

“I’m getting ready to go home and change.”
As soon as Joe finishes talking to you.
I dug into my tote, pulled out a bottle of my favorite cologne, and liberally doused myself.

“Lord have mercy!” With a hand clamped over her nose, Aunt Eunice rushed through the swinging half-door that divided the customer area from our workplace. She and Joe sat at a small glass-topped table. My aunt folded her hands in front of her and waited. I leaned across the counter as far as possible without toppling over.

Joe gave one of his famous sighs. “No sense beating around the bush. Somebody in Mae Belle’s store said they heard you threaten to kill her. Did you?”

Aunt Eunice was speechless—a rare moment in her life. Her mouth opened and closed like the gills on a fish. I thought she was beginning to cry, then realized her shoulders shook with silent laughter. How could she laugh at a time like this? Oh, I hadn’t had the chance to tell her about Mae Belle. She’d be overcome with remorse for her giggles. I started through the swinging door, caught a whiff of myself, and stopped.

“What did that girl tell you? Of course I didn’t threaten to kill her. April made a joke and...”

“My April?” Joe’s eyes widened.

“Do you know another girl with that name?” Aunt Eunice used the hem of her apron to wipe her eyes. “I started to say Mae Belle had better not mess up Summer’s wedding, you know how she is. Then April asked if I was going to kill her if she did. It was all innocent, Joe. I assure you.”

Joe leaned forward. “Someone sent Mae Belle to the hospital this afternoon with a letter opener sticking out of her back. Then I discover Summer digging through Dumpsters. Won’t look good in an investigation, Eunice. The department will want me to be watching both of you.”

I shrugged when she glanced my way. “I did discover some gloves through my searching. They aren’t mine. You’ll find that out when you do your tests. Then, Mr. Big Cop-Man, I’ll be accepting your apology for even suggesting Aunt Eunice and I have anything to do with this.” And I most likely ruined a pair of pants.

Joe’s face reddened. “I never said I suspected. I didn’t suggest. . .”

“Will Mae Belle be all right?” My aunt paled beneath the rosy blush she wore.

“I haven’t made it over to check on her. Wanted to come by here first.”

“Summer?” Aunt Eunice frowned so deeply her sparse brows came together in a line. “Why haven’t you gone?”

“I was following Sherry, then I fell in a puddle of water and decided to check out the Dumpsters before coming here to tell you what happened.”

Joe switched his attention to me. “Why were you following Sherry?”

“She was mean to me, and she didn’t seem at all concerned that somebody tried to kill Mae Belle. Seemed more worried that she’d be out of a job. She actually insinuated I had something to do with it.” I crossed my arms. “It made me suspicious.”

“Mean to you?” Joe stood and shook his head. He had a habit of repeating what I said back in an annoying way.

One look at my watch and I rushed to the front door. “See y’all at the hospital. If I’m going to meet Ethan for dinner, I’ve got to change now.” And I wanted a peek at Mae Belle’s appointment book so bad I could almost taste the paper.

Sherry, my new nemesis, Joe, April, and Aunt Eunice sat in the hospital waiting room when I arrived. My sore ankle prevented me from wearing the strappy sandals I’d recently purchased. My flip-flops slapped against the tile. One of my aunt’s pet peeves. “How is she? Did anyone call Uncle Roy? What about her parents in Oklahoma?” I collapsed into the nearest uncomfortable burgundy chair.

“The doctor hasn’t come out.” Aunt Eunice pulled a tissue from her brassiere and blew her nose, then glanced at my feet and scowled. “Roy will be here soon. He’s closing the nursery early, and Mae Belle’s parents have been notified. They’ll be here in a few hours. How can I tell my sister I had ill thoughts of her daughter just moments before someone attacked her?”

I scooted from my seat and knelt in front of her. “You aren’t the only one. . . .” A middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat approached us. Aunt Eunice gripped my hands until the knuckles ground together.

“I’m Dr. Barnett. Are you Miz Sweeney’s family?” The doctor removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Yes.” Joe stood, looking very much in control in his uniform. “How’s Mae Belle?”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we could do. Miz Sweeney died on the table from internal bleeding caused by a small puncture to the heart. This is one time when extra weight on a person might have saved their life. I’m sorry.” The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose again, nodded, and walked away.

Sherry wailed and buried her face in her hands. Most likely worrying about her next paycheck. I prayed for forgiveness for my awful thought. The Lord commands us to love our brother. How much more should I this woman? Or my cousin? And Mae Belle had died alone.

A lump rose in my throat, burning and making breathing difficult. Tears stung my eyes.

We sat in stunned silence. In the blink of an eye, we now looked at a murder case. Not for the death of a stranger, but for family.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dusk fell, casting the early evening in the warm yellow glow of late summer. Remorse filled me as I dwelled on Mae Belle’s death. I’d been so interested in gathering clues that I hadn’t been by her side in the hospital. Granted, we weren’t that close, not running in the same social circles, but I
had
hired hee nr as a wedding planner. Against everyone’s advice. But family is family. Personality didn’t factor in, right?

Ethan slipped my shoes off my tired feet and massaged, gently cracking my toes. God really had sent me the best of the men He’d created. I snuggled deeper into the cushions of the porch swing and closed my eyes, losing myself in his touch.

“Are you going to be all right?” Ethan rubbed circles in the arch of my foot, his thumb pushing with the right amount of pressure. I bit back a moan.

“Yeah. April and Aunt Eunice will help me plan the wedding. We have eight months. They didn’t want Mae Belle doing it anyway.” My eyelids snapped open. “That sounded harsh, didn’t it? Especially with Mae Belle being murdered. Sometimes I’m a horrible person.”

Ethan pulled me around until my back faced him. His strong fingers kneaded my tense shoulder muscles. He placed a soft kiss on the nape of my neck, and I thanked the Lord my aunt and uncle sat on the other side of the wall watching television. Experience taught me Ethan had a lot more willpower than I did.

“You’re not a horrible person.” He chuckled. “Joe sent me the most interesting picture on my phone today.”

Uh-oh. Here it comes.

“Not that I didn’t appreciate the view, but what were you doing hanging upside down in a Dumpster?” His fingers never paused in their massage. “Because, if I remember correctly, after the last escapade at the fair, a certain someone promised no more gumshoeing.”

I didn’t remember promising.
Horror
. A few months ago, I’d told God I’d tell no more white lies. There was no way out. I had to be honest. “But she’s my cousin.”

“I’m your fiancé. It’s difficult to teach my students when

I’m worried about you.”

Great. A fist of guilt smashed me in the face. I turned to look at him. “I’m sorry. I won’t put myself in harm’s way. I’ll just nose around a little. I have to do this, Ethan. As difficult as Mae Belle was, she didn’t deserve to die that way. She was scared when she asked me to meet with her. Justice must be served.” A worthy speech if I say so myself. “Besides, I promised.”

“The last mystery you worked on, you said the same thing. Only that time, it had to do with your parents.” Blue ice flashed from his eyes then disappeared under his solid resolve. Strong, gentle fingers brushed the hair away from my face. “Tinkerbell won’t always be able to fly away.”

His nickname used to fill me with anger when we were kids; now it caressed me with love. “You can help me again. Come with me when I ask questions.”

“Who’s on your suspect list this time?”

“No one. Yet.”

“Then I’ll pray you find out nothing and stay safe.” He kissed me, sending bolts of electricity through my body. I thought, in a roundabout way, he’d given his permission. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He sauntered to his truck. With the rising moon casting him in silhouette, he raised a hand in farewell before driving away. I couldn’t wait until he didn’t have to leave at a decent hour. When I could, instead, grasp his hand and lead him into our home, our bedroom. This house. Left to me by my parents. Eight more months. Then we’d be married, and my aunt and uncle moved into the new guesthouse being erected on a far corner of the land.

With a sigh, I rose to my feet and pulled open the squeaky screen door. Aunt Eunice turned her head from the game show on TV.

“I wondered how long you were going to give the neighbors something to talk about. You know how people are in this small town.” In her mind, I would perpetually be a teenager. “And would you tell me what all those letters piled on the floor of your closet mean?”

Case in point—I live with my aunt and uncle. I have no privacy.

“Did you open them?”

She shook her head.

“Come upstairs, and I’ll show you.”

Aunt Eunice bounded from her chair, patted my glued-to-the-television uncle on the shoulder, then followed. Once inside my bedroom, I closed the door. A mound of envelopes in every shape, size, and color lay on the floor of my closet. From beneath my bed, I pulled a plastic bag then dumped its contents. More envelopes spilled out.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t possibly answer them all.” Especially since I’d been ignoring them for weeks.

“Who are they from?” Aunt Eunice picked up a pastel pink one.

“Fans. People asking for help.” I plopped on the mattress sending letters fluttering to the floor. “They’ve been arriving at the candy store since I solved the murder at the carnival.”

“You’re famous.” She ripped the envelope open. “This one is a proposal of marriage. You should show it to Ethan.” She tossed it and opened another. “This one wants to hire you to find their missing dog. Maybe you’ve found a good source of a second income.”

I went over to my nightstand and pulled a letter on navy-colored stationery from the drawer. “This one is a threat. I found it stuffed between the screen and the door when I came home today. Whoever sent it was unoriginal enough to cut letters from a newspaper or magazine.”

Aunt Eunice’s eyes widened as she read.

“Do not get involved. Is your life worth tracking down who killed a socially inept, abrasive personality of a woman?”
She flipped the page over.
“One who destroyed the dreams of those around her? ”

Her hand shook. “This person killed Mae Belle and has way too much free time. They must also know how nosy you are. Why else would they think you might try to solve your cousin’s murder? You haven’t been talking about it around town already, have you?”