Cupid's Corpse: A Cozy Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 3) (7 page)

Gemma nodded.

“They ran this place as long as their health permitted and then they died within a year of each other. What she discovered after that was that not only were they terrible parents for a lonely little girl, they were not very good when it came to managing money. The place was deep in debt and falling down around her ears. On top of that, she owed back taxes. It was put up for auction. The Muzaks were the highest bidder and kind Mr. Muzak with his big heart hired her as the event planner.”

“I see,” Gemma said.

The sheriff continued. “Word around the county is that she didn’t like the way the place was being run. Thought she could do better. Even hinted at something underhanded going on.”

“Do you think there’s something going on?” Gemma asked. “Besides murder, I mean?”

Burton sipped her coffee and thought about that. “I doubt it. But if there is, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“Do you have any thoughts on who might have killed Mr. Muzak?” Gemma asked, trying to sound casual, although she was dying to know what the investigation had turned up so far.

“Oh, we have a couple of ideas. Joel is an expert with a crossbow, but the one used wasn’t one of his. He only shoots expensive bows made custom for him by a local company. This one was just a cheap model available at Walmart. The arrow was a fixed blade broadhead. All the ones at his house were expandable, which means the blades open up after the arrow hits. Then there’s the timer.”

Gemma was afraid to say anything; afraid the sheriff might stop talking. She simply nodded and sipped her coffee.

“The whole thing was rigged with a timer set to pull the trigger at exactly the right moment. Just a little digital clock with a solenoid wired to it. About twenty-five dollars’ worth of Radio-Shack odds and ends.”

“Fingerprints?” Gemma asked, even though she already knew the answer to that one.

The sheriff shook her head.

“Would it take some special knowledge to rig up a timer like that?” Gemma asked.

“You ask a lot of questions,” Sheriff Burton said with a little smile.

“Sorry. I’m just naturally curious,” Gemma said quickly.

“To answer your question, we have two or three people in mind,” she said. “Again, it’s a small area. People talk. My job is to listen.”

Before Gemma could reply, Joel approached their table. She was surprised he hadn’t immediately been arrested for the murder of Mr. Muzak, even though the physical evidence seemed inconclusive. After all, everyone seemed to know that he was having an affair with Mrs. Muzak. The dark circles under his eyes made him appear more pale and even thinner than he seemed when she first met him. He stopped and shifted nervously from foot to foot.

“Sheriff Burton, I’ve cleared the front office for you to use as an interview room,” he said, his voice shaking just a little. “The accountant is in there right now. He’ll go over the books with you.”

“Thank you,” the sheriff said, standing up.

“How is Mrs. Muzak this morning?” Gemma asked him.

“She’s holding up,” he said, his voice as stiff and cold as his icy glare.

“Ms. Vanderhaden, I trust we’ll be seeing each other again later today. Since you were the closest to the stage, I’d like to get a better idea of what you saw and heard.”

It took Gemma a few seconds to respond. “Oh, yes, absolutely. I’ll be in my cabin.”

Her food arrived soon after that and her coffee cup was refilled. Gemma picked at her food in silence. The whole place was subdued, a sad empty feeling, almost as if the lodge itself was mourning the loss of Mr. Muzak. Gemma looked up to see Missy Tyler coming toward her table with a fresh pot of coffee.

“Refill?” Missy asked.

“Yes, please,” Gemma said, pushing the cup in her direction. “Looks like you’re a little short staffed today.”

Missy shook her head. “Oh, half the wait staff and almost all of the housekeeping staff called out today. They’re so upset over losing Mr. Muzak that they just couldn’t work.”

“I’m sure he’ll be missed,” Gemma said.

“Not by me,” Missy snapped.

“You didn’t like Mr. Muzak?” Gemma asked.

“Stupid old fool running around pretending to be Cupid. He ran this place like it was some sort of love nest when his own wife was sleeping with his manager,” Missy said, lowering her voice when she said the last part. “I heard they were planning on running away together after this weekend.”

“Really,” Gemma said. “Do you think one of them killed him?”

“Probably. I don’t care. He’s dead and that’s all that matters and soon she’ll be gone.”

“And what will happen to the lodge?”

“It’ll go back up for auction. She’s never made a secret of the fact the she hates the place. This time I’ll be able to buy it and run it properly. I’ve been saving as much as I can and just waiting for my chance.”

As Missy stalked away from the table to seat a young couple who had entered the restaurant, Gemma wondered if she’d just been talking to Mr. Muzak’s killer. She couldn’t remember if Missy had been on the floor when he was killed. And then she wondered if Missy would know how to rig a crossbow.

Gemma waited as long as she could on Nick. She checked her cell to see if there were any texts, found none and then remembered that she’d been told the cell service here was sketchy at best. Growing restless, she decided to walk back up to the cabin to see if he had just returned there, gotten to working on his story and forgot all about her. It wasn’t like him, but he certainly seemed to have changed in the past day or so, and that worried her as well.

Gathering her dishes, she carried them to the counter. Missy nodded her thanks and Gemma turned to go. In the lobby, she saw Joel and Natasha, who appeared to be working on a project of sorts. Again, Gemma was surprised that they hadn’t been arrested. Perhaps, even with the crossbow there wasn’t enough evidence. And neither of them appeared to be ready to escape.

“Hello, Natasha,” Gemma said, gently touching the taller woman’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you up and about.”

“Mrs. Vanderhaden,” Natasha said and then slowly turned toward Gemma. Her eyes were red and swollen but she’d done her best to hide that with make-up. “Boris would have wanted me to continue his beautiful weekend as best I could,” she answered.

“Yes, he would have,” Gemma agreed and then she saw the photo albums and various beautifully bound journals. “What are you working on here?”

“Oh, my husband was quite a prolific writer. He kept a journal almost all of his life, sometimes on just mundane daily things that we shared. Sometimes he expounded on love and what it meant to him.”

“He even wrote poetry,” Joel added.

Natasha touched a stack of envelopes on the edge of the table bound with a red ribbon, her fingers shaking slightly. “These are love letters that he wrote to me all through our married life.”

“And you want to share them with your guests?” Gemma asked, surprised. Natasha appeared to be such a private woman.

She shrugged. “Sheriff Burton and her men went through them all last night. And it’s not like there are secrets here. Boris had no secrets. Actually, the things he wrote to me are a poetic tribute to love in all forms.”

“So not an enemy in the world,” Gemma said.

Both Joel and Natasha shook their heads. “At least in his mind. Boris loved everyone and he just assumed everyone loved him as much.”

Not everyone, Gemma thought, including you two. Aloud, she said, “What a wonderful tribute. I know the remaining guests will love it.”

“We hope so,” Joel said.

“Oh, look at the time,” Gemma said, glancing at her watch, one of Holly’s designs. “I need to get going. I’ll take a closer look at this once you get it all set up. It sounds quite interesting.”

“Thank you,” Natasha said.

“And, if there’s anything I can do, please let me know,” Gemma said.

“Thank you. We will,” Joel said, but he never took his eyes off of Natasha.

W
hen Gemma approached the cabin and saw the empty parking space out front, she was disappointed that Nick had not returned. Where had he gone to meet Harold? He hadn’t mentioned that part, but he’d been very excited. She checked her phone. One bar and no texts or missed calls. There were no messages on the land line phone in the cabin either.

Realizing that Nick probably had no cell service either, wherever he was, she decided to wait a while longer before she panicked. Gemma prowled around the cabin, restless and just a little bit worried about Nick. Everyone else had been down at the lodge that morning, so the meeting with Harold had been just the two of them, and evidently quite secretive.

Gemma picked up her tablet and found that she had several emails from Holly. She smiled as she read them. Ross already knew about the murder.

“Bad news travels fast,” Gemma said to herself. She really wished Ross was here to bounce around some ideas and get his insights. Even if he was here, he wouldn’t be invited into this investigation. It was clearly out of his jurisdiction.

Gemma sent off a quick email assuring Holly that she was safe and sound, behaving herself and keeping her nose out of the murder investigation. Then she settled down to write an email to Ross, as much to gather her own thoughts as to get his.

Gemma described the murder and then she told him about Natasha and Joel and how they were obviously carrying on behind Mr. Muzak’s back.
Rumor has it they were planning on running away after this weekend,
she wrote.
Everyone knew about it. At first glance, one or both of them would seem to be the culprits. Joel was an avid crossbow hunter, skilled with the weapon. Natasha could have paid him to do it, or paid someone else for that matter. Missy Tyler, the event planner, made no bones about the fact that she hates the Muzaks. So there are three suspects right there. Maybe there’s a jealous lover involved somehow that I haven’t discovered yet.

Gemma thought about that and then she added,
Nick is off right now at some sort of secret meeting with a guy named Harold Holland, who he thinks has something to do with the blackmailing scheme. I’ll let you know more soon.
Then she hit SEND.

A sound outside her door had her on her feet immediately, thinking Nick had returned, but it turned out to be nothing. Perhaps the wind. At least the snow had stopped for the time being.

Gemma paced.

The telephone rang, a loud, old-fashioned sound and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She snatched it up immediately. “Hello.”

“Hello, Mrs. Vanderhaden?”

“Yes,” Gemma said after only a brief hesitation. “Who is this?”

“It’s Sheriff Burton.”

“Oh, hello. Can I help you?” Gemma asked.

“I was hoping you could spare us a little time later this afternoon. Say around three,” Donna Burton said.

Gemma heard papers being shuffled around and noted that the sheriff sounded awfully tired. “Yes, of course. That would be fine.”

“Good. See you then.”

After she hung up, Gemma knew she could not just sit there until three in the afternoon and wait for Nick to come back. And she really needed to talk to him. There was no way she could continue to pretend she was Carolyn Vanderhaden in a one on one interview with the sheriff. She bundled up in her coat and scarf and grabbed her purse. Surely, she would be able to find a way to get into town, maybe locate Nick.

Back at the lodge, Gemma saw that Natasha and Joel had pretty much abandoned their project, leaving the photo albums and journals stacked haphazardly on the table. The letters were actually lying on the floor. She knew she should take a closer look at them, but then reminded herself that the police had already done that.

She entered the restaurant looking for Missy and found her right where she had left her, talking and laughing with a table full of guests.

“Missy, can I ask a favor?” Gemma asked when she caught the woman’s attention.

“Of course,” Missy said. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to go into town. Ni...my husband left earlier and took our vehicle so I was wondering if someone would drive me or...”

Missy motioned for Gemma to follow her and led the way out to the front desk. There she snagged a set of car keys off of a nail by the office door. “Parked over to the right side of the lodge is a red SUV. I’m sure it’s not what you’re used to, but it’ll get you to town and back.”

“You’re loaning me your car?” Gemma stared at the key in amazement.

“It’s not mine. It belongs to the lodge. We use it for picking up supplies, taking guests on day trips close by and stuff like that,” Missy explained.

“And you’re just going to let me drive it?”

“Honey, you’re not going that far and besides, we don’t have enough people on staff to drive you, so....” Missy shrugged.

“Okay, well, thank you. I promise not to be gone long,” Gemma said, thinking that Missy was acting for all the world like she had already taken ownership of Cozy Valley Lodge.

The SUV started right away and Gemma sat there for a moment letting the engine warm up. It had a full tank of gas and she wondered if Joel and Natasha had planned on using it to make their escape after the weekend was over. She put it in reverse, backed out of the spot and started down the narrow winding road into Valentine. The streets were nearly deserted and Gemma knew the Escalade would be easy to spot if it was in the area. She drove down the narrow street where they had shopped the day before, circled the area several times, each time going further and further out.

No Escalade. No Nick.

Finally, she found a parking spot and climbed out. She stood there for a moment and then headed to the boutique where she’d spoken with Madge the day before. She was right behind the counter, her gray head bent over a magazine.

“Good morning,” Madge said when the little bell over the door tinkled.

“Good morning.” Gemma smiled easily at her. “Just thought I’d check in on you this morning.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Poor Mr. Muzak, on the other hand...” she finished the sentence with a shudder.

“I know. Everyone is just devastated,” Gemma told her. “Half of the employees couldn’t even make it to work today.”