Beauty Secrets Cozy Mystery Boxed Set 1

by Stephanie Damore

  I had obviously greatly underestimated Suzanne. I thought Whip was a power-hungry sociopath. Suzanne took that title to a whole other level.

  The crazy woman walked toward the barn on the far side of the property and I thought this was my chance to free whomever she had locked up inside. I made a run for it across the yard and over to the building. The building, about the size of a small garage, had two square windows on the side. Standing on my tiptoes, I peered in and found Vicki, bound and gagged, tied to a chair. The way her head was slumped forward told me she was unconscious and, hopefully, not yet dead.

  I looked around to find something to help me get into the building. I didn’t dare try and move the shovel jammed in the door as I was afraid Suzanne would see me. It was safer staying on the side.

  A small woodpile had been stacked up along the back of the building. I ran over and grabbed two pieces, using them to give me a boost. It was just enough to raise the window. It was not easy to pull myself in. Must. Go. To. The. Gym. The whole not-working-out thing really wasn’t working out. My arms shook just from pulling myself up and over. I hit the floor harder than I had expected; especially seeing that I hit a workbench on my way in.

  I stayed crouched down for a minute, rubbing my backside and giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness. I was right in that the building was nothing more than a garage used to store lawn equipment. In the middle of it was a rather large riding lawnmower. I already decided I was going to ride that baby out of there if I got the chance. Suzanne had better get ready to run.

  I moved in the dark over to Vicki and began to untie the bandana that she had been gagged with. She snapped her head up and darted it side to side, ready to fight. Her glasses had been knocked off her face, and were a couple feet beside her. Even in the dark, I could tell her face was puffy from the blow.

  I came around to the front of her. “Vicki, it’s me, Ziva,” I wasn’t sure how well she could see me. I could see her though. Her eyes were full of fear. I put her glasses back on her face. “Hold still and let me get this off you.” I went back behind her and worked on getting the gag loose. I couldn’t get it completely untied, but managed to get it loose enough to fall around her neck.

  In a hoarse voice, almost a whisper, Vicki warned, “It’s the honey.” I immediately began working on the rope that bound her to the chair. I wasn’t sure when Suzanne would come back, but I didn’t want to be sitting there when she did.

  “I know. I figured that out this afternoon. What’s wrong with it?” I knew it had made me sick, but I didn’t understand how.

  “It’s called mad honey. It happens when bees pollinate toxic rhododendron flowers and make honey from their nectar.” Vicki coughed and cleared her throat.

  “Do people do that on purpose?”

  “Absolutely. All you need to do is move a hive next to the flowers.”

  I remembered Suzanne telling me she moved hives, and I told Vicki so.

  “That’s all she had to do. The bees took care of the rest. People have been using the honey as a weapon for centuries. Even leading to the fall of the Roman army in 67 B.C.” Leave it to Vicki to give me a horticulture lesson while being held hostage in a storage shed.

  “I thought it was an accident though?”

  “So did I. Big mistake. Guess she had to climb that social ladder one way or another,” Vicki said, looking down at her bound feet. “I just hope Jeffery’s okay. She said something about this being all his fault.”

  “I doubt that.”

  I was just getting Vicki’s hands free when the other garage window slid open. We both froze. Suzanne was in the window, chucking in chunks of honeycomb and dumping an entire bee hive through the window. She didn’t see us. She was too bent on carrying out her master plan. The garage immediately filled with angry, buzzing bees. Vicki’s feet were still tied to the chair, but even if she could’ve run, I wasn’t sure where we were going to go. The bees were heaviest by the window, plus I had no idea where Suzanne was. For all I knew, she was standing outside the garage with a shotgun. At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past her. A riding lawnmower wasn’t going to cut it.

  I crouched back down on the ground and focused on freeing Vicki. After that, we could plan our escape.

  Just then, I felt the sharp bite on the back of my neck and another one on the back of my arm in rapid succession. I brushed at the back of my arm to shoo the bee and pain away, and grabbed my arm. It hurt like crazy and I wanted to scream. It was the most intense itching and burning sensation I had ever felt. My arm and neck immediately started to swell and a burning sensation spread throughout my body.

  Vicki managed to take off her shoes and free herself before I had been able to untie the ropes around her feet. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. My hands trembled and my throat felt scratchy, and it hurt to swallow, like something was stick in there. The burning sensation then made its way to my stomach, such a hot pain. I would’ve given anything to jump in a cold bath and let the frigid water take the heat away. I swore if I survived this bee attack, I was never going to eat honey again.

  Vicki knew something was wrong right away. Probably because I was practically having a panic attack on the garage floor. I was trying not to let the fear take over, but when you can’t breathe and are in intense pain, it’s kind of hard not to.

  “Bees,” I managed to wheeze out.

  “You’re allergic?” I nodded. Vicki helped me up and hid me under the work bench while she searched the garage. The way she moved about in the dark told me she had been in here before. I was huddled under the work bench, focusing on breathing in and out, when Vicki came back over in front of me, carrying a large case. Putting the case down, she undid the clips and flipped it open. It was a chainsaw. With a couple of tweaks and few pulls, the beast roared to life. I didn’t even ask her what she was doing. She walked right over to the wooden garage doors and cut right into them. If Suzanne was anywhere close, she’d better start running. The chainsaw ate up those doors like they were nothing. Vicki hauled off and gave the doors a solid kick and they fell forward, crashing to the ground. A man yelled in surprise. It was Jeffery. He stood in the opening, a parade of police cars and firetrucks lighting up the sky behind him. Vicki dropped the chainsaw and Jeffrey ran to her, embracing her in the biggest display of lip-locked PDA anyone had ever witnessed. Ah, so that’s why Vicki stuck around the mean girls; she has the hots for Suzanne’s stepson. I would’ve thought it to be an epic scene, had I not been on the verge of passing out.

  The back of the ambulance doors had been left open as I sat there with an EMT by my side. I was beyond thankful that the cavalry had also included an ambulance. Within a couple of minutes, I was feeling much better thanks to Benadryl and epinephrine. The medicine was administered in time to stop my allergic reaction. I was a bit twitchy, but at least I could breathe. Forget lipstick, Benadryl and an Epi-Pen were going to be my new must-have accessories. The medic was ready to take me to the hospital, but I was still trying to talk my way out of that one.

  Vicki sat next to me with an ice pack on her face, while another medic tended to her bee stings. She had been stung a handful of times, but luckily hadn’t had any adverse reaction besides the typical pain. A couple more ice packs and ibuprofen was all she needed. Jeffery stood outside the ambulance waiting, rather impatiently. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving her side anytime soon.

  I thanked Jeffery for all his help. “How did you know?” I asked, meaning where Vicki and I were.

  “A bit of luck, really. I had finally decided that the business wasn’t worth it. I was upstairs packing a few things when I heard Vicki scream. I looked out the window and saw Suzanne drag her into the shed.” Yep, I was thinking a whole lot of luck and maybe a little bit of my nan. Thank you, I said to my guardian angel.

  “Knowing how crazy Suzanne is, I immediately called nine-one-one before trying to be a hero,” Jeffery added.

  “Smart.” Maybe I should try that som
etime? I looked down at my swollen arm. It was a total puffy mess.

  I glanced over to see that Mayor Potts had arrived on the scene. He was practically jumping in front of Detective Roxy, trying to get a word in, while she handcuffed Suzanne. Apparently, the mad woman hadn’t made it very far. “Please listen. Listen! I don’t understand. This doesn’t make any sense. Suzanne, tell them you didn’t do this!” he pleaded with them. The mayor obviously hadn’t been in on it. You couldn’t fake that level of desperation. He looked to be another one of Suzanne’s victims. Ah, the power of a woman. I’m betting he was so enthralled with her wanting him that he turned a blind eye to her wrongdoings. I had a feeling their relationship was a recent affair for him to be that enamored.

  Suzanne, however, was ignoring Humphrey, instead shouting for Jeffery like usual. “JEFFERY! Where is he? This is all his fault!” She even stomped her foot. “I’m not going anywhere! Find that fool!”

  “She murders someone and it’s my fault. Ridiculous,” Jeffery said to us. Suzanne still had no idea where he was and continued to yell and curse his name.

  “What does she mean?” I asked Jeffery.

  “She made toxic honey, right? And then, instead of getting rid of it, stored it with our specialty blends. So, next to the gallberry and clover honeys, she puts something that can kill a person.”

  “That was dumb,” I said. And she thought Jeffery was the thick one.

  “Exactly, so of course I don’t know that, and end up packaging it as gallberry. It looks the same. I even put it on our own kitchen table.”

  “Which, I’m guessing is how the mayor got poisoned?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Did you know they were a thing?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Why do you think she did it?”

  “To get rid of Paulette. She knew Humphrey was cheating on her, but she still wouldn’t leave him; their relationship was more for show, so you know Humphrey wasn’t about to break up with her either. Guess Suzanne got tired of playing second fiddle.”

  I looked over at Mayor Potts. All this, over him? Really? Baby blue suits and polka dot bow ties just didn’t do it for me. Not to mention, he lacked common sense. Why anyone would murder a friend over a man was beyond me.

  “So yeah, none of this is my fault. I’m just thankful that none of the bottles I packaged killed anyone,” Jeffery added. Nope, just knocked me on my butt for a couple hours.

  I had to do a bit of a double take when the goofy guy with the fedora and trench coat showed up on the scene. He was videoing Suzanne being arrested. The bright light from his phone shone right in her eyes.

  “You put that phone down right this second, Kevin. Do you hear me? I do NOT want you filming this!” Kevin wasn’t listening. “Kevin! You and your brother, I swear!”

  I looked at Jeffery. “Your brother?”

  Jeffery shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “Suzanne hired him to dig up dirt on Whip, but I think he took it too far. He’s a little different.” Kevin filmed the entire scene until Detective Roxy put an end to the matter and took away his phone. I thought I heard Kevin say something like “shucks” and that he was going to get his backup camera.

  I lay my head back and closed my eyes. I couldn’t wait to tell all this to Finn. Was it Saturday yet?

  23

  I drove down to the courthouse to pick up Mrs. J. With the case now solved, she was free to go. Last night had been eventful in more ways than one. It was the middle of the night by the time I got home from the hospital. Thankfully, I hadn’t had a secondary reaction and was released after a short observation. With a filled Epi-pen prescription and a couple bottles of Benadryl, I was ready for Aria’s wedding, wherever it was going to be. I still had three hours until my driver was scheduled to pick me up, plenty of time to grab Mrs. J. and get home to finish packing.

  The front of the courthouse was packed with reporters and television crews huddled around a podium. Detective Roxy was in the middle of them. She sported a pair of jeans with a brown suede jacket over a white shirt. Her makeup looked completely natural. If she was a knock out before, then she was drop dead gorgeous now. I’d like to think that it had been courtesy of my beauty catalogs.

  “Is this about Suzanne?” I asked when I got out. Kevin had gone public with all the extra footage he had, documenting Suzanne and Humphrey’s affair. The scandal was all over the news. I figured with Paulette’s murder being such a high-profile case now, it warranted a news conference.

  I was wrong.

  “Ha, not hardly,” Detective Roxy said.

  “What’s going on then?”

  “You’re going to have to ask Mrs. J. when she comes out.”

  “She called this event?” Oh boy. This ought to be good. I wasn’t sure if I should go inside and get her, and figure out what this was all about, or just wait for her to come out. After five minutes, I decided to fetch her when she made her entrance. Mrs. J. walked out of the court house dressed head to toe in peach. Satin peach hat, peach chiffon dress, and peach heels. The only thing on her that wasn’t peach were her pearls.

  “New jail house digs?” I joked with Roxy.

  “Heck no. One of her lady friends came by and helped her get ready. She was released two hours ago.”

  Mrs. J. approached the podium and eyed the microphones, apparently pleased by the number of attendees. “You guys filming?” she asked, pointing to the cameramen. They nodded that they were. “Good, good.” She then cleared her throat and proceeded to say, “I just wanted to thank y’all for coming down here today. This is a big day, especially after my recent hardships.” Mrs. J. looked at the courthouse behind her. She had spent less than two full days in jail, but she wasn’t going to let anyone forget that anytime soon. “Being falsely imprisoned has taught me something: you have to fight for what you love. And I love this town,” she said, hammering on the podium. A couple of older ladies in the background clapped on cue. “Port Haven has seen a lot of change. A lot of change, folks, and it hasn’t been good. No, it hasn’t. It’s a darn disgrace the scandal our current mayor’s in, not to mention the joke of a candidate running against him. Did y’all see him without his drawers? We can’t have that. Port Haven deserves better. I’ve decided that there needs to be new management in this town, which is why I would like to take this opportunity to formally announce my candidacy for mayor!” Mrs. J. gave a winning smile. Detective Roxy and I couldn’t help but clap. I think everyone else was speechless. I had no doubt Mrs. J. would make one heck of a mayor. With the dirt she had on people, I was sure she’d be able to get things done. She had my vote. Now she just needed to get in the car. I had a wedding to get ready for.

  I was finally there, in my paradise. One would’ve thought the wedding would’ve taken place on Vince’s private Caribbean island, but that wasn’t original enough. No, we were in the southern heart of the Pacific Ocean on a small island off the coast of New Caledonia. Aria and Vince had chosen a sunrise wedding (I know, don’t get me started!). I may have been half asleep, but even I could see that Aria looked stunning in her gown. The rose gold dress, coupled with the pinks and oranges in the sunrise, made for a beyond-beautiful portrait. Vince had completed the brunch reception with plenty of champagne, exotic fresh fruits, savory crepes, and my favorite—chocolate-filled croissants. The morning had been a whirlwind, but by eleven AM, the festivities were complete and I was officially off maid-of-honor duty.

  Shades on, toes in the sand, drink by my side … this was the life. Finally, I was ready to relax. They were going to have to pry me from those white sand beaches when it was time to go. I seriously would’ve loved to extend my vacation, if only I could’ve afforded it. Who knew, maybe my business would take off and I could relocate to someplace more tropical like this. Heck, maybe Finn would even be down for it. Just looking at the water I thought the fishing had to be phenomenal. Hello, it was the South Pacific. I’m sure he would jump at a chance to run a fishing charter down here. I smiled
. Look at me, planning a future with a man. Okay, so it was all in my head right now, but it was a start.

  “What are you smiling about?” said a familiar voice that made my heart do a little flip flop. I opened my eyes to see my beau standing above me. Bare chested, board shorts on, a can of Coke in his hand. Mmm, he was a sight.

  “Finn!” I jumped up and into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and almost knocking him over. I kissed him as if he had been out to sea for a year, not a week. His can of Coke lay forgotten in the sand.

  “And I thought you didn’t like surprises,” he said, a little breathless. I jumped down. “Not that I’m complaining. We can do that again.”

  I kissed him again.

  “That just made that ridiculously long flight worth it,” he said.

  “If you thought that made it worth it, just wait until later,” I teased.

  “Long week?”

  “Very.” Finn had no idea. It was going to take more than a minute to get him caught up to speed, but truthfully, that wasn’t a priority. I had something else I wanted to discuss with him.

  “So, I did a lot of thinking this week, and here’s the thing. I really missed you. Like hardcore. More than I thought I would.”

  “Good, because I missed you too.” Finn took my hand.

  “You did?”

  “I didn’t just fly around the world for some girl. I did it for my girl.”

  “Aww, I’m your girl?”

  “For as long you want to be.”

  “I like that.” Because right then, I wanted to be his girl for a very long time.

  Eyeliner & Alibis

  Beauty Secrets Book 3

  Stephanie Damore

  Copyright © Stephanie Damore 2017

  The mortal right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved in all media. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical (including but not limited to: the Internet, photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system), without prior permission in writing from the author.