When Magic Is Murder (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (13 page)

CHAPTER
29

“Did I wake you?” said the voice
after I answered. “Connie gave me your number. She told me to call if I thought
of anything.”

I squinted at the clock. It was
nearly one in the morning. For a split second, I thought it might be Zack. But
as the haziness of sleep dissolved, I realized that the guy on the other end
sounded nothing like my handsome photographer.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“Jasper,” the caller said.
“Connie’s cousin.”

I pushed off the blankets and sat
on the edge of the mattress. Then I asked why he was calling me in the middle
of the night.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I just wanted to
thank you for helping us.”

“Okay.”

“And I wanted…to tell you
something.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to…” His voice became a
slippery whisper. “…Connie would be
so
mad if she knew that I was
bothering you this late, but I wanted to tell you…no, I wanted to
promise
you that I would never hurt a flea.”

Between the sloppy pronunciation
and the disjointed sentences, it was clear that Jasper had been drinking.

“And also,” he continued, “that
guy, you know the one I’m talking about?”

“The man in the gazebo?”

“Uh-huh. Yeah. That guy…”

I waited, but there was nothing
more. Then I heard ice cubes clinking in an empty glass and the sound of someone
walking across a creaky hardwood floor.

“Jasper?”

“Huh?”

“You were saying something about
the man that Eloise found in the gazebo.”

“She didn’t kill him!” he blurted.
“No matter that he cheated on her with some rich skank and there was no reason
for him to be so cruel to her. Know what I’m saying? She’d been talking about
doing something to scare him, but she would never kill anybody.”

“Something to scare him?”

“I dunno wuz she…” He hiccupped.
“…wuz she thinked…”

Okay
, I thought.
It’s
time to say good night, Jasper
.

“Hey.” I listened, but there was
nothing on the other end. No talking. No breathing. No drunken declaration of
innocence. “Did I lose you, Jasper?”

And then a muffled snort and he
came back to life. “Oh, jeez! I maybe dozed off or something.” Another loud
hiccup came through the phone. “I mean, I’ve been going for, like, three days
straight and—”

“Jasper?”

He said my name a few times. Then
he said, “What’s up?”

“Okay, I know you’re tired, but I’d
like to ask you a couple of quick questions.”

“Maybe,” he said.

Don’t waste your time
, the
voice in my head muttered.
Wait until tomorrow
.

“Did you say that Eloise was dating
the man found dead in the gazebo?”

He mumbled something that made no
sense. When I asked him to repeat it, he said, “That’s what I was talking
about. Eloise and wuzhisname.”

“His name is Alec,” I said quietly.
“Were they dating recently?”

“Six weeks,” he sputtered.

“They’d been
dating
for six
weeks?”

“No, no! That jerk dumped her six
weeks ago. And then he called her and said it had been a mistake and he wanted
to talk to her. I never met him when they were going out. And I didn’t know it
was him when me and Shane got into a fight at the bar.”

My mind clicked the new pieces into
the puzzle. Then I asked Jasper why Eloise didn’t tell Dina that she knew Alec
Halstead.

“She was trying to protect me,” he
mumbled.

“Protect you?”

“Uh-huh. From when I was in prison.
So…when she found the guy…and he wasn’t breathing…she, like, she just panicked.
Her circus got over…no, her
circuits
got overloaded. Like, right then
she couldn’t think straight. Her brain just…has that ever happened to you? When
there’s a problem and you know that you should do one thing, like, maybe call
911, but then you get all—”

“Hey, Jasper?”

“Hmmmm?”

“Why don’t we talk about this
tomorrow?”

He snickered. “Izz already
tomorrow.”

“Okay, listen. I’m going to hang up
now. And I really think you should try and get some sleep.”

I waited to see if he’d answer, but
the line was quiet for a few more seconds before I heard a metallic
snap
followed by infinite silence.

“Good night, sweet prince,” I said.
“That hangover is going to be fierce when you get out of bed tomorrow.”

CHAPTER
30

Julia was cracking eggs into a blue
stoneware bowl when I stumbled through the Sky High kitchen door the next
morning at half past five.

“Oh, brother,” she murmured softly.
“Somebody was up late.”

I nodded. “And somebody needs
coffee.”

While she continued with her work,
I trundled across the room, grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it with
fresh-brewed java and a drizzle of cream.

“Hot date?” Julia asked.

“I wish.”

“Bad dreams?”

I sipped the coffee, letting the
steam curl into my dozy eyes. “More like a bad drunk,” I said. “Connie Larson’s
cousin. He called me to shoot the breeze.”

“Jasper?”

“The one and only.”

“Why was he…” She answered her own
question before finishing it. “I heard that he was arrested for a drunken scene
the other night. Do you think he had something to do with the man who died at
the Lodge?”

The coffee mug was warming my hands
while the caffeine slowly banished the cobwebs of sleep from my brain. By the
time I realized that Julia had asked me something, she was already repeating
it.

“Sorry,” I said, offering a
crooked, hazy grin. “Half of me is still upstairs in bed.”

She laughed, a gentle sound that
was familiar and comforting. Jules was more than the chef at Sky High Pies; she
was a patient listener and good friend. She knew that I still missed some
aspects of my former life as a PI, and accepted the fact that I would
occasionally roll through the door before sunrise after a late night caused by
something besides my budding romance with Zack.

“I heard about Jasper’s record,”
she said. “There are rumors floating around that he may be involved in the murder.”

“If it
is
a murder,” I said.

“What else could it be?”

I shrugged. “Accident. Maybe the
guy slipped and hit his head.”

She thought about the possibility
and agreed with a quick nod.

“I was up in Boulder yesterday,” I said,
depositing my coffee on the counter and grabbing an apron. “I met the deceased
man’s sister and ex-wife.”

Julia gave me a quizzical look.
“Only you, Katie.”

“Only me what?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Did you go up
to Boulder to snoop around?”

“I like ‘investigate’ more than
‘snoop,’ but the answer is yes. Connie asked me to take a look into the
situation. She’s convinced that Jasper wasn’t involved, but has concerns that
his reputation will take a big hit if people find out that he’s been to
prison.”

“Too late for that,” Julia said,
walking the remaining eggs back to the cooler. “People are already talking.”

“Well, this is a small town,” I
said.

“And getting smaller every second,”
she agreed, stepping out of the walk-in and closing the door. “I went to get a
few things at the store last night and somebody asked me if you and Zack had
broken up already.”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded.

“Who was saying that?” I asked.

“Nobody important,” Julia answered.
“I just wanted you to know that tongues are wagging.” She laughed and threw
back her head. “But don’t worry, Katie! I shut ’em down right away and set the
record straight.”

“Well, if tongues start wagging
around me, they’ll get slapped into the next county,” I said. “I
love
living here until something like that happens.”

“I don’t disagree. It’s like after
you first moved back to town; some people said it was because you fell to
pieces after getting dumped by that jerk in Chicago.”

I hadn’t thought about my
ex-boyfriend for weeks. Hearing the comment sent a sliver of sorrow into my
heart. I stared at the whiteboard on the wall, trying to focus on the prep
list. When the words kept squirming around like blurry black snakes, I decided
more coffee was in order.

“Mrs. Stanhope is coming by at
eleven to pick up the pies she ordered,” Julia said. “And Gladys…um, shoot!
What’s her name?”

“Gladys Orwell,” I said with a
smile. “She’s due at one for the three dozen Caramel Snowcaps.”

Julia whisked the eggs for a few
seconds, humming something softly. Then she asked me about Connie Larson.
“How’s she holding up? I mean, it’s not everyday that somebody dies at your
hotel.”

“Thank goodness for that, huh? The
deal with her cousin is really bugging her. But if Jasper is truly innocent,
that’ll come out in the investigation.”

“Did you tell Dina about his call
in the middle of the night?”

“Jules! The day has barely begun.
When would I have called her?”

She smiled. “You could’ve sent her
a text,” she suggested meekly.

“I’m just teasing,” I said. “I shot
her a quick note as soon as Jasper hung up. I’m sure she’ll be in touch later
in the morning to get the scoop.”

“And in the meantime,” Julia said,
nodding at the lengthy lists on the whiteboard, “we’ll have our hands full with
all of those orders.”

CHAPTER
31

I was rolling out what felt like
the one millionth pie crust of the day when Harper came into the kitchen around
ten o’clock.

“Dina Kincaid,” she said before
doing a quick reverse spin and heading for the dining room. “Table by the front
door.”

Before I could say a word, she was gone.
It had been an especially busy morning for breakfast orders and carryout bakery
items, so I knew she was operating on high adrenalin and stolen sips of coffee.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Julia.
“This shouldn’t take long.”

When I reached Dina’s table a few
seconds later, she was on her phone, scribbling madly into her notepad and
talking in a hushed tone. I waited until she’d finished the call before sitting
across from her.

“Morning, Katie,” she said in a
rush. “I’ve got about five minutes.”

“Why didn’t you just call?”

She smiled as Harper approached the
table with a white paperboard box.

“Here you go, Dina,” she said.
“Three Cheesy Cherry Danish, six Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes and six Peppermint
Mocha Bars.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Harper.” Dina
quickly signed the credit card slip. “Thanks for getting those ready so fast.”

Harper smiled. “Oh, you’re welcome.
I know how grumpy some people can be if they don’t get their way.”

After she left the table, I asked
Dina who Harper was talking about.

“Deputy Chief Walsh,” she answered.
“When I told Trent I was about three blocks away, he begged me to make a quick
stop and get him a pastry.”

“Or three,” I said.

Dina laughed. “They’re actually for
a meeting he’s got with a couple of people coming up from the U.S. Marshals
office in Denver. And I didn’t mind the detour. It gives me a chance to ask you
what Jasper called about last night.”

While she put away her credit card
and notepad, I gave a quick recap of my conversation with Connie’s cousin. I
began with the disclaimer that he sounded intoxicated before recounting his
comments about Eloise’s relationship with Alec Halstead.

“Okay, let me see if I’m
following,” Dina said when I finished. “Jasper called you in the middle of the
night because he wanted you to know that Eloise had been…dating the vic?”

I nodded. “Yes, but he was pretty
smashed, so who knows how much of it is true.”

“Never a dull moment,” Dina said
sharply. “It was bad enough that Jasper lied about knowing the guy. And now
there’s a chance that Eloise withheld the fact that she not only knew the dead
man, but they’d been romantically involved?”

“Not the most uncomplicated
scenario,” I said. “But I’m sure you can unravel it.”

She heaved a sigh, got up from the
chair and grabbed the box of pastries. “I’m due in court this afternoon, so…”
She dropped her purse strap over one shoulder. “Did I even text you with the
latest, Katie?”

I shook my head. “What is it?”

“Amanda Crane was on patrol this
morning,” Dina answered. “She found Alec Halstead’s SUV in the alley behind
Porter’s Paints. There was another EpiPen on the passenger seat, so that may
explain why he didn’t have one with him in the gazebo.”

“Probably right,” I said. “Anything
else?”

“We’ve got the techs going through
it at the scene,” Dina answered. “They’re checking to see if we can find
anything that might help identify his killer.”

“Or confirm where he was working
that night? I asked Connie about that yesterday. Since his online calendar
showed that he was scheduled to perform in Crescent Creek, I thought maybe—”

“We know about that already,” Dina
announced. “Sorry that I didn’t tell you.”

“It’s fine. You’ve got more than
enough on your plate.”

“One of the birthday parties had
hired Mr. Halstead to do a magic show at the Lodge that night. When Connie called
to move their group to Café Fleur, I guess she overlooked the note in the event
order about entertainment.”

“She was pretty upset,” I said.

“Oh, I’m not blaming Connie for not
remembering,” Dina said. “Shannon Lindstrom made the arrangements with the host
of the birthday party. Do you know her?”

I nodded. “We’ve met,” I said. “She
handles event sales for the Lodge.”

“That’s right,” Dina agreed. “I
guess Connie wasn’t up to speed on all of the birthday party details because
she was so focused on the bachelorette thing. Anyway, she left a voicemail for
me last night and said that you’d asked her about it. Apparently, she found
Shannon’s notes for the birthday party and they included Alec Halstead’s name
and—” Her phone rang and she glanced at the screen. “I’m sorry, Katie. It’s the
DA’s admin, so I need to take it.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know
you’re juggling a couple of big cases.”

I got up from my chair and Dina
turned for the door.

“Thanks, Katie!” she called over
her shoulder. “I’ll talk to you later!”