Jeopardy in January

by Camilla Chafer

  I stopped at the collective gasps and waited for the whispers to subside. "There was no reason for anyone to kill Bree that I knew of. There was also nothing to steal, or so we thought. In reality, Bree was killed just yards from where she'd stashed the jewels. Detective Logan thinks she refused to say where they were, hoping that her ex-boyfriend, Tom Nicholson, or Tricky as he's known in the criminal world, would spare her long enough for her to retrieve them and get away. She was overheard saying she planned to leave Calendar as soon as it was safe."

  Meredith raised a hand. “I overheard that,” she said to collective “oohs!”

  "Imagine! Who would have thought sweet, little Bree was a master criminal?" said Candice. She bit into her cookie, and looked fascinated.

  "That's exactly why she was so useful to Tom's gang! No one suspected Bree of anything. I don't know what happened between her and Tom. Maybe with the law closing in on them fast, and Tom being so dominating, Bree thought she would grab whatever she could and make a new life for herself away from him. No one knows why she picked Calendar. Detective Logan couldn't find any ties between her and our town. Either she just stumbled across it or she stabbed a finger on the map. It was the perfect place for her to hide out until she could plan for her future." That was all I managed to glean from Detective Logan. He'd been kind enough to keep me updated about his interviews with Tom before his arraignment.

  "I heard she was spotted out by that new housing development. Why would she be out there if she didn’t intend to stick around?" asked Jaclyn.

  I wasn't sure but I had a logical guess. "It's possible Bree might have been looking for a new place to hide the jewels. The realtor said Bree also inquired about buying a house there. The cost would have been chump change after what she stole. Maybe she wanted to find a more secure location to hide her stash; or perhaps she really did want to put down roots here and figure out how to launder the money, instead of running away to somewhere exotic."

  "She could hardly explain buying one of those big houses on an assistant librarian's salary," pointed out Candice.

  "I'm sure she could have come up with something more convincing. Maybe an inheritance," I suggested. I doubted we’d ever know. Bree didn’t tell anyone about her future plans. She was as careful as she could be. The only mistake she made was to use her cellphone before she ditched it, allowing Tom to track her. A little part of me, the part that still considered Bree my friend, hoped that she'd found a happy home here, and that she might have wanted to stay and clean up her life. However, that didn't sit too well with the part of me that knew her as a practiced criminal and confidence trickster.

  Despite all that, I couldn't believe every single thing she ever said to me was a lie. Another thing that puzzled me was that Bree never needed anything from me. She could have hidden the jewels in the library at any time. She didn’t even have to work there. She also didn't need to cozy up to me to do that. "I'm sure Detective Logan will find out more about both Bree and Tom when he contacts the other police departments," I continued.

  "It must have been terrible to realize you were dating a murderer," said my mother. "Although he is good looking..."

  I rolled my eyes. Trust my mother to look at any situation with cheerful optimism. "With Bree dead, he had to find someone close to Bree to know if she revealed any information about her past life or the jewels’ whereabouts. He intimated that he'd been watching the library for a little while so he knew who I was and that we were friendly. I'm pretty sure he was the one who broke into her apartment but didn't find anything before he decided to target me. He managed to introduce himself and subtly questioned me, checking to see if Bree had confided in me. She hadn't, of course."

  "The woman arrested outside my house was part of his gang," chipped in Mom.

  I nodded. "She was. Tom realized he wasn't getting anywhere fast so he sent a fake sister to contact me, hoping that I would reveal some information to her instead. I did, but not what they needed. They ended up on a wild goose chase out to Bayview."

  "How did you know it was him?" asked Meredith. She warmed her hands on the mug and waited. "That's why we escaped our dates that night, wasn't it?"

  I nodded. "I recognized the tattoo on his wrist from one I'd seen in Bree's meager possessions," I said, skipping over the details about going to her former apartment. "It's winter, so everyone wears sweaters, and covers their arms. When Tom pushed his sleeves up to play pool, I saw the tattoo and realized exactly who he was. After that, it wasn't hard to work out why he was taking such an interest in me. When he pulled a gun on me, that clinched it!"

  Jaclyn laid a hand on my arm. "It's hard to find a good man these days," she said, her face looking sympathetic. "Thank goodness I have my Donald."

  "Your Donald is a cat," said Mom.

  "Exactly," agreed Jaclyn. "Dependable."

  "Where is Tom now?" asked Meredith. "I hope he gets what's coming to him!"

  "I think I can answer that," said a voice behind me. I turned around, smiling when I saw Detective Logan. He nodded politely to my friends and helpers. I wasn't sure if I were mistaken but his eyes seemed to linger on Meredith. "Tom Nicholson is sitting in jail. The judge refused to set bail because he's a flight risk; so he'll stay there until a court date is set. Given the long list of crimes he's purported to have committed, he'll be in the slammer for a long time."

  "Good," I said, because it seemed like the simplest answer.

  "Have you got a moment?" Detective Logan asked me.

  I looked around. We’d almost completed all the packing so I nodded. "Sure," I said. "Let's go into my office."

  As we walked away, the group broke into excited conversation, speculating on Tom's fate. I also thought about it a lot over the past week but hadn't gotten much further than hoping he remained inside a jail cell for a very long time. For all of Bree's faults, she didn't deserve to die so unjustly or so cruel.

  "What can I help you with?" I asked. "Looking for a new book?"

  Detective Logan laughed. "No, but I was thinking I should renew my membership card. I have something for you." He held out a small, black pouch, dropping it into my palm.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  "Open it up and see."

  I slid open the velvet cord and tipped the pouch upside down. Something small and sparkly fell into my hand. I pinched it between thumb and forefinger and held it up, letting the light catch it. "Is this what I think it is?" I asked.

  "A diamond," confirmed Detective Logan. "The jewelers were so pleased at the swift recovery of all the jewels that they insisted I give this to you since you were responsible for finding them. It was couriered over this morning."

  "It's spectacularly beautiful!" I breathed, utterly astounded at the generous gift.

  "I don't think it's the biggest of the recovery but I'm guessing it's worth a small fortune. You deserve it," said Detective Logan. "I have to get back to the station and inform every trespasser we arrested in the past twenty-four hours that there's really no further need to dig for buried treasure now."

  "They're still doing that?" I rolled my eyes.

  "Yep," said Detective Logan, breaking into a smile that lit his face with warmth. "Take care and try to stay out of trouble."

  "I'm just a librarian," I told him. I was still smiling as the detective left the office. I heard him trying to skirt several probing questions from my mother on his way out. I figured he would be fielding those questions for a long time.

  "Hey," said Jason, stopping in the doorway. "Meredith told me you were back here. Are you ready?"

  "Almost finished," I replied, crossing the few steps between us and reaching up to kiss him as I hooked my arms around his neck. Jason wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. When the kiss ended, his arms remained around me. "How's work at Bayview?" I asked. I was really happy to see him and even happier that we were now on the same team.

  "Construction has restarted and we just confirmed the new schedule fo
r completion. Plus, Gwendolyn sold six more homes off plan thanks to the new designs. Did I mention the good press we got for regenerating the library? My firm is very happy about that."

  "Did you pick your house?" I wondered. Jason was seriously interested in purchasing a house nearby. He decided he wanted to spend a lot more time in town. I was pretty sure our dates might have influenced his decision. No, I wasn't pretty sure. I was one hundred percent sure. Jason confessed it to me over dinner a few nights ago.

  "I did. Do you want to see it?"

  "Does it have any walls yet?"

  "Might be missing a few."

  "Windows? A roof?"

  "All currently invisible. I thought I might take you somewhere a little more visible after I show you the large pile of dirt where my house will eventually stand. Do you have your weekend bag?"

  "Right here," I said, pointing to my carry-on, which was currently resting by the door. Jason released me, grabbed the handle, and held out his arm for me to hook my own through. "Where are we going?"

  "I thought we'd spend the weekend at my apartment in the city and do all those things you keep saying you want to do. Things like going to the theater, doing a little shopping, having romantic dinners. Maybe some tourist sites. Any of that appeal to you?"

  I confirmed that it appealed to me very much. "We just need to make a little stop on the way," I told him.

  "Where's that?"

  "I know a little place that’s kind of out of the way, but they make the best pancakes."

  Jason threw his head back and laughed. "Let's go!"

  I handed my key to my mother, laughing as she all but pushed me out the door. I reminded her to set the new alarm and make sure the door was locked when she left. The next time I saw the inside of the library, it would be fully refurbished. We stepped outside and Jason held up an umbrella, sheltering us both from the rain. Fat droplets hit the ground, reminding me of the unexpected gift Detective Logan had just given me.

  "Detective Logan came by," I told him.

  "I saw him leaving as I arrived. Did he have good news?"

  "Very good." I smiled and held out the diamond for Jason to inspect. "It looks like I got to keep some of the treasure after all!"

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  If you enjoyed your visit to Calendar, look out for the next book, Fear in February.

  Ally McKellar loves owning and running her own restaurant, Belle Rose. After working in a busy New York restaurant, managing her own kitchen is like a breath of fresh air. Even better, it’s rapidly becoming the local favorite place to go in the quaint, mountain town of Calendar. But if people knew about Ally’s recent past, her customers might not be so keen to sample her delicious dishes.

  When the local newspaper’s food critic makes a reservation to try out her new menu, Ally knows she’s got to nail every course to ensure good publicity. There’s only one problem: the critic dies during the second course and everything points towards food poisoning. Suddenly, Ally’s success as an entrepreneur is in jeopardy while her past is hastily dredged up, threatening to destroy the new life she has recently managed to create.

  With the help of Jack Harper, her handsome sous chef with a questionable past of his own, Ally must discover the real killer or risk losing not only Belle Rose, but her desire for a happy new life as well.

  Other books by Camilla Chafer:

  Deadlines Mysteries

  Deadlines

  Dead to the World

  Lexi Graves Mysteries:

  Armed & Fabulous

  Who Glares Wins

  Command Indecision

  Shock and Awesome

  Weapons of Mass Distraction

  Laugh or Death

  Kissing in Action

  Trigger Snappy

  A Few Good Women

  Ready, Aim, Under Fire

  Rules of Engagement

  Stella Mayweather Series (Urban Fantasy):

  Illicit Magic

  Unruly Magic

  Devious Magic

  Magic Rising

  Arcane Magic

  Endless Magic