Cold as a Witch's Toffee

by Sara Bourgeois

  While I couldn’t go out from behind the counter to get a closer look, I could walk around to get a better angle. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see his face because it was turned away.

  When I walked down closer to the register where Lynette was standing, his identity became crystal clear. My heart sank down into the pit of my stomach and threatened to push out the half gallon of Toffee Twist ice cream sitting in my gut.

  Lukas Roth was dead in the middle of my ice cream shop. At first, I wondered how he had gotten in, but then I remembered that he still had the keys from my uncle’s estate.

  “The sheriff will be here in a few minutes,” Lynette said as she gently hung up the phone.

  “Great,” I said. “We’ll just wait right here and not touch anything else.”

  “I shouldn’t get things ready to open?” she asked.

  “Not today. I don’t think we’re going to be able to open after this. There’s a dead body in the middle of the seating area, after all.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Lynette said sheepishly.

  She shook her head as if trying to knock a thought or some cobwebs loose. The look on her face was completely stricken, and I imagined I had a similar expression.

  “You’re just in shock,” I said. “It’s okay. I think we’re doing fine. Do you think we’re handling this all right?”

  “I was screaming,” she said as an embarrassed blush colored her cheeks.

  “You were screaming over finding a body in the shop. It’s completely understandable. I’ve found myself screaming over far stupider things,” I said as I remembered my tantrum after I found out Dane had broken up with me.

  It only took a few minutes for the sheriff to arrive, and she was not what I expected. It probably sounds super sexist for me to say I was expecting a man, but I was. I shouldn’t have said anything to her about it, but I did. So much for getting local law enforcement to like me.

  “I’m Sheriff Bethany Holder,” she said and put her hand out for me to shake.

  “I’m Allegra Darling,” I said. “I guess I own this place.”

  “I know. We’ve been expecting you. The whole town has been. This just isn’t the way I planned to meet you.”

  “You’re a bit unexpected too,” I said as I tried not to think about how the entire town would hear about how my uncle’s lawyer had turned up dead in the shop on my first day.

  “Come again?” she said.

  “I’m sorry. I think I’m still in shock. I just meant… I don’t know… I’ve seen a lot of those Hallmark movies, and I thought you’d be the hunky sheriff who comes to my rescue or something like that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “I think you’re going to have to rescue yourself, Allegra,” Sheriff Holder said with a tight smile.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Look, I’m sorry that this is happening, but I’m going to need you and Lynette to step outside. I’ve got to call in my deputy to search the crime scene. Once he’s here, I’ll come out and speak with you.”

  “Can I go home, then?” Lynette asked. “If we’re not going to open today, that is.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to open today,” I said.

  “Lyn, I’ll come by your house and speak with you when we’re all done here. Okay?”

  Lynette nodded her head and left quickly through the back. Sheriff Holder then turned her attention back to me.

  “Ms. Darling? You’ll wait outside, please?”

  “I will,” I said.

  Outside was comfortably warm despite it being early in the morning. That meant it might be hot later in the day. Too bad we wouldn’t be able to open the shop. It would have probably been a good sales day.

  Wait… Had I really just thought of the shop as mine? Did I really care about sales? That was a big switch, but it was all I had. And it was a gift from the only person I knew of who ever really loved me.

  I didn’t deserve the gift I’d been handed, but perhaps, I thought, I could make something of it. Right after I got the dead body of the lecherous lawyer out of the store. When he was gone, I’d begin the process of making my uncle, wherever he was, proud of me again.

  Not entirely sure of what to do with myself, I plopped down on the curb. I wasn’t hungry thanks to eating an entire tub of ice cream the night before. I couldn’t really exercise while I waited out front for the sheriff, and I had zero desire to go on social media. Dane had probably shut my cell phone off anyway. I’d need to do something about that eventually. But in that moment, not having it was giving me one of the most peaceful moments I could have had despite the situation.

  At some point, it could have been a few minutes, or it could have been an hour, a cruiser pulled up near me. The deputy got out and walked past me without even looking. I gave him a wave and said hello, but he did not acknowledge my existence before walking into my shop.

  My shop.

  Another short while later, Sheriff Holder joined me outside. I stood up when she didn’t make a move to sit down on the curb with me. Probably didn’t want to get her uniform dirty. I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to get down in the gutter with me either.

  “So, when did you decide to move to Knox Hills?” She began the interview without any friendly formalities. “And I’m sorry about your uncle, Allegra. I still have to ask the question.”

  “I didn’t decide to move to Knox Hills. I was just here to sign some papers yesterday, and I guess you could say that I found myself stranded here.”

  “Can you explain that, please?” she asked.

  “I was just here to sign papers for the shop, and my fiancé, I mean ex-fiancé, dumped me over email. I no longer have a home to go home to, so I guess I’m staying here.”

  “Do you have an alibi for last night?”

  “Do I need one?” I asked too quickly.

  “I heard that people witnessed you arguing in the town square with the victim, so yes, I’d say you do need an alibi. You were staying at the bed and breakfast, right? Can anyone confirm you were there?”

  “How do you know all of this already?” I countered her question with my own.

  “Small town. If you’re going to live here, you’d better get used to it,” Bethany said. “So, about that alibi?”

  “I don’t have one. I came to the shop and never went back to the inn.”

  “You spent the whole night here?” she asked. “Why?”

  “I ate an entire tub of ice cream and went into a food coma. When I woke up to the sound of the store manager screaming, Lukas was dead in the front of the shop.”

  “Are you on drugs?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Did you drink heavily last night?”

  “Nope. I don’t drink or take drugs.”

  “Why did you eat a whole tub of ice cream? That doesn’t seem logical given the first impression you make.”

  “Uh,” I said and thought about it for a moment. “Well, I hadn’t really eaten in years, and I was hungry.”

  “Okay,” she said and scribbled something down in her little notebook “So, you were asleep, and somebody killed the man you were fighting with yesterday in your shop. But it wasn’t you and you have no alibi?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That sounds about right. I don’t think it was Lynette either. She seemed pretty freaked out. I think it was genuine shock.”

  “You realize it looks like you did it, right?” Bethany asked. “I don’t want to believe it was you, but you’re not doing much to convince me otherwise.”

  “Yep. I know, but what can I do? It wasn’t me.”

  “Did you really offer to sleep with Lukas if he’d change your uncle’s will?”

  “No. He offered to change it if I slept with him. When I refused, he made a scene,” I said. “That’s why we were fighting. We weren’t really fighting. I told him no, and he started yelling at me like he was rejecting me. But it was all him. He came looking for me and asked
me to go to the park with him.”

  “I can actually believe that,” Sheriff Holder said with a sigh. “Do you have a way I can reach you?”

  I pulled my cell phone out and looked at it. “My ex hasn’t shut my phone service off yet, I guess. I thought he had, but I suppose it’s just bad service here. I don’t know how long it will be on, but I’ll give you the number. Oh, and I’ll be staying at my uncle’s house as soon as I figure out how to get the keys. That’s the first thing on my agenda today after I get my overnight bag from the inn.”

  “I’ll call you if I need you, then. If your phone is off, I’ll come by,” Bethany said. “I’ll let you and Lyn know when you can go back in the shop.”

  “Thank you.”

  When she was gone, I walked back to the bed and breakfast to get my things. No one was at the desk when I walked in, so I just proceeded up to my room.

  While I was there, I figured I might as well take a shower. The room was mine until eleven.

  The bathroom was much nicer than I’d expected with its walk-in shower and little soaps shaped like daisies. There was a clawfoot tub too, but I didn’t want to soak. I was nervous, and it felt like I needed to stay on my feet.

  After my shower, I found name-brand lotion and face cream on the vanity. “Don’t mind if I do,” I said before using them both.

  I’d paid for the room after all. I hadn’t gotten to sleep in it, so I might as well indulge in what I could. I had half a mind to go downstairs to the breakfast room and see if there was any fried chicken, but I was still too stuffed from the ice cream.

  There were two sets of clothes in my overnight bag. Another Fendi sports bra and running shorts along with a pair of leggings and a loose t-shirt. The leggings and t-shirt had been in the bottom of the bag for years. I’d forgotten they were even there, but I was thankful they were.

  The clothes were wrinkled, but I couldn’t find the will to care. No one cared what I looked like anymore, so I was going to be comfortable. That was something I hadn’t been in years. After I used the inn’s blow dryer to dry my hair halfway, I piled it on top of my head in a messy bun. The face cream I’d used had a slight shimmer, and I decided that was good enough. After a quick swipe of mascara and a slick of conditioning gloss, I was ready to go.

  With my bag packed again, I headed out into the hallway. Since I had no idea how I was going to get the key to my uncle’s house, I figured I’d better get started. I couldn’t afford another night at the bed and breakfast, and I didn’t want to sleep on the street. I began to wonder if I could be arrested for breaking into a house that I technically owned.

  When I opened the door to leave the room, I wasn’t paying attention and ran right into a housekeeper. She was gorgeous with olive skin and thick black hair tied up in a ponytail. Her deep red lipstick somehow brought out the golden flecks in her piercing umber eyes. She seemed very well put together for someone who spent her entire day doing messy manual labor. I had to admit that I was a little jealous.

  “Excuse me,” I said and took a step back.

  “You’re right,” she spat.

  “What?”

  “Excuse you.”

  “I just need to get through,” I said. “I’m going to check out.”

  She pushed her cart out of the way and allowed me to exit the room. As I was walking down the hall, I heard her let out a loud sigh.

  I stopped in my tracks and turned around. “Is there a problem?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she said and snapped her gum. “There’s a problem all right.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  I had no idea why the housekeeper was so angry with me. I hadn’t left the room a mess. Even if I had, how would she know? Had she gone in there while I was out?

  “Everybody knows you killed Lukas,” she hissed. “He was a good man and didn’t deserve to be murdered by a no-good tramp like you.”

  “I’m…”

  What I was was indignant, offended, and ticked off. How dare she accuse me of murder? I mean, it did kind of look like I’d probably done it, but still. Nobody in that town knew me, so how could they possibly judge me so harshly? But Bethany’s words came back to me.

  Small town.

  Before I could argue with the housekeeper or defend myself, she disappeared into the room and slammed the door. I was half tempted to go back to the room and give her a piece of my mind, but I had to live in Knox Hills. The last thing I needed was to get arrested for starting a fight with a housekeeper at the bed and breakfast.

  I took my bag and hurried down the stairs. Breakfast was still going, and I wanted to slip out while the front desk was unmanned. I needed some time and space to think before I had any more run-ins with the residents of my new hometown.

  That wasn’t what the universe had in store for me. On my way out the door, I ran right into Alex Shore. Running into people while I was trying to exit a business was becoming a habit for me. I wondered if I’d ever be able to walk out a door without slamming into someone from Knox Hills.

  “Good morning, Allegra,” Alex said with a smile as if I hadn’t just slammed into his rock-hard chest.

  Whoa. He was solid under that shirt. My gaze ventured from his chiseled in stone, yet hidden, torso up to his high cheekbones. Alex was offering me a bright smile, There was genuine happiness in his sapphire blue eyes. I hadn’t noticed how handsome he was the first two times I’d met him. His perfectly tousled hair and jawline you could cut glass with had escaped my observation completely.

  “Good morning,” I said and prayed he couldn’t see the flush staining my cheeks.

  I had just been through a breakup, and the last thing I needed was to get all bent out of shape over a man, but it was hard to overlook him. Plus, he kept showing up. What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t a nun.

  “I came to check on you,” he said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Do you always come check up on the new people in town?” I asked and tried not to sound snotty.

  It seemed strange that he was so concerned for me. I wasn’t used to that, but I reasoned that he might be the town welcome wagon. Using Alex in that capacity would have been a good idea. He had the looks for it, and I was probably just being a jerk.

  “Well, I went to open my shop this morning, and I noticed that yours had a definite sheriff presence. Word on the street is that you killed Lukas Roth in the ice cream shop.”

  “I didn’t kill him,” I said.

  “I know. I didn’t think you had. That is the rumor, though.”

  “How do you know I didn’t kill him? Did you kill him?” I asked.

  “No,” Alex said with a chuckle. “I’m just pretty good at reading people. You’ve got some things going on in your life right now that are making you a little unhinged, but you’re no killer.”

  “I’m not unhinged.” I totally was.

  “It’s okay, Allegra. I didn’t mean it as an insult. I would be unhinged too if I was in your situation. I only meant to convey that I understand. I think you’re holding it together better than I would.”

  “You do?”

  “I do,” he said.

  Those two words coming from a good-looking man like Alex were enough to make my heart beat just a tad faster. Stop it, Allegra. You are in the middle of a crisis, is what I told myself. But again, how could you blame me? There was this handsome man who kept wanting to help me. I wasn’t very good at letting myself enjoy things. Perhaps, I reasoned, I should just let myself enjoy it.

  “You said you were opening your shop?”

  “Buy the Book. It’s right next door to Nutties,” he said with a proud smile.

  “Oh.” I felt even more like a jerk because I hadn’t even noticed there was a bookstore next door. Logically, I knew there had to be something in the space next to my store, but I hadn’t noticed what it was.

  “What?” Alex asked.

  “Well, I feel bad, but I didn’t notice your shop next to mine. I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t
need to be sorry. You’ve had it pretty rough.”

  “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked. “And don’t most people read those eBooks now?”

  Alex laughed again, and the sound of it was enough to lift my mood a bit. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you, Allegra Darling? You’ve never done anything to cross me, and you seem like you could use some kindness. As far as eBooks, I suppose they are becoming more popular elsewhere, but not here in Knox Hills. My customers still love good old-fashioned books.”

  “Thank you for wanting to help.”

  “What can I help you with?”

  “I don’t have the keys to my uncle’s house, and the person who had them is dead. I need to figure out a way to get them.”

  “That’s easy. Come on, Allegra Darling.”

  Chapter Five

  “Are we going to break into his office?” I asked when I realized we were walking towards Lukas’s office.

  “No,” Alex said. “Lukas had a partner at the law firm. We’re going to go get the keys from him.”

  “He had a partner? Another Roth son?”

  “No, Anton is not a Roth. He’s a non-family partner.”

  “I didn’t see another lawyer there,” I said.

  “That’s because Anton wasn’t particularly fond of Lukas, but Roth and Sons was the only firm in town. He usually did his work from home or parked himself at a table somewhere when he needed to get out. With Lukas gone, I bet he’s in the office today.”

  “How would he know that Lukas is dead already?”

  “I’m sure he was one of the first people Bethany called. Plus, this is a small town. You’ve got to get used to that. He’d probably heard even before Beth called him,” Alex said.

  “So, I just go to his office and see if he’s there?”

  “I can go with you if you want,” he offered.

  “Don’t you need to open your store?”

  “I’m sure there’s not a mad rush for books this morning. Plus, with all of the cop cars and yellow tape around your store this morning, it will probably be a while before I get any business.”