Chocolate Heart Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14

by Kathleen Suzette

  I nodded. “Sure, I know what you mean. Was there anything in particular that caused that?”

  She looked at me and was quiet a moment. “Honestly? I think Mel was jealous of Logan. Logan had his own business and worked for himself. And I think Mel was just so envious that he didn’t have the same thing. He would get snippy with Logan, always making sarcastic remarks about him having it made and that it must be nice to make so much money.”

  “But Logan started out working for his dad just like Mel is doing with his dad. It’s not like he was handed anything.” I looked at her.

  “Oh sure, that’s true. But honestly, Fred is younger than Logan’s dad is, and I doubt he’ll retire for a long time. That means a few more years for Mel to have to work for his dad and his dad can be kind of a jerk.” She raised one eyebrow and gave me a look that said there was more to that situation than she was saying.

  I had never noticed that Fred was a jerk, but there were rumors around town. Rumors that he wasn’t the most honest person to do business with, but I figured that was because he owned a garage and sometimes mechanics had a bad reputation. Now I wondered if it was true that he did work on Logan’s car without letting him know about it in advance.

  “Do you think so?” I asked. “And if so, do you think Mel would just kill him because he was jealous of him?” Sue began filing my nails.

  “I’m sure it had to be more than that,” she said carefully. “But there was just this tension that developed between them the last couple of years and Logan said he felt like he didn’t have much in common with Mel anymore. He felt bad, he didn’t want to just refuse to see him all at once, but he was trying to make their get-togethers spread out further and further. He figured one day Mel would find somebody else to hang out with and that would be the end of the relationship.”

  “I think it would have to have been more than just mild jealousy for him to kill him though,” Christy pointed out. “Was there something else? Something that might have sent him over the edge?”

  “Well, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Clarice said, “but I overheard Mel griping about Logan at the bar a few months ago. He said that Logan had changed. He said Logan thought he was better than he was.” Her eyes went from me to Mariah and then back again.

  “That’s it,” Mariah said pointing a finger on her free hand at Clarice. “That was exactly it. He thought Logan thought he was better than him, but that’s ridiculous. Logan had just outgrown the relationship. Mel had this chip on his shoulder, and you could tell that he had just become kind of aggressive toward Logan.”

  I thought about this. If Mel thought Logan had changed and thought more highly of himself than he ought to, and if Mel tended toward being dramatic or paranoid, it might cause him to be resentful enough to get back at him.

  “I guess it’s something Ethan should look into,” I said slowly. I hated to put my two cents in when so many people were listening. I didn’t want it spread around town that I thought what Mariah was saying had some validity. It was up to Ethan to decide that.

  “I really think Mel did it,” Mariah said, sitting up in her chair. “It’s the only thing that could have happened. Logan didn’t have any enemies. At least, none that I’m aware of.”

  “Why do you think it’s the only thing that could have happened? You were pointing your finger at Amber earlier.” Christy tilted her head, waiting for her reaction.

  Mariah scrunched her nose up and didn’t look at Christy. “Well, I suppose it could have been Amber. And honestly, I can’t say that it wasn’t her. With the way she behaved, it wouldn’t surprise me if she did do it. But I was just thinking things over and if it wasn’t Amber, then it has to be Mel. Ethan needs to have a talk with him.” She looked at me.

  I glanced at Christy. Sometimes she wasn’t diplomatic. “I know Ethan is going to find Logan’s killer. And it’s good for him to know all there is about what was going on in his life before he died. I’m sure if the killing wasn’t random, and there’s nothing to indicate that it was, then it was someone he knew, and they had to have had something against him.” That may have been obvious, but I didn’t want the conversation to be derailed. If Mariah knew anything else that was important, I wanted to know what it was.

  She nodded, looking at me. “Well there’s one other thing,” she said quietly. “Mel has always had a thing for me. Last year he was coming to the gym regularly, and he was always trying to impress me. Of course, I wasn’t going to be impressed with anyone other than Logan. I loved him.” Her eyes teared up when she said it.

  I nodded. “Of course you did. So what did you do when Mel kept coming to the gym and trying to impress you?”

  Clarice began adding a coat of bright red polish to Mariah’s nails. “He kept hinting at things, you know,” she said slowly. “Flexing his biceps in front of me and taking his shirt off while he exercised. That’s gross you know, everybody’s there at the gym to work out and no one needs all that extra sweat flying around. But anyway, he finally came out and said he thought we should go to dinner sometime. I told him that I was in a serious relationship and I had no desire to go out with anyone else.”

  “How did he take it?” Christy asked.

  She glanced at Christy and turned back to me, ignoring her. “He scowled and said Logan didn’t love me. I told him he was a liar, but he kept insisting that he was using me and just keeping me around for selfish reasons.”

  It was possible that Mel had a thing for her, and was jealous of Logan’s life, but would it be enough to make him go off the rails and kill Logan? He would have the know-how to cut the brake lines on the car, but would he do it? After all the murders that Ethan had investigated, I still found it hard to imagine being so angry at someone that I would not only plan their murder, but carry out. I simply couldn’t do something like that.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I’m not surprised that Mariah is pointing her finger at someone else,” Christy said as she dusted the shelves at the candy store. I was sitting on a tall stool behind the front counter, and I looked up at her.

  “Why aren’t you surprised?” I folded over the newspaper I had been reading and tossed it on a shelf behind the counter.

  She turned to look at me. “Because she’s probably the killer. Of course she wants everyone’s attention focused on someone else. Wouldn’t you?”

  She had a point. “Well, first of all I’d never kill anybody. But yes, if I had killed somebody, I certainly would want the police to look at somebody else. And Mariah certainly has good reason to do it.”

  She nodded and walked over to the front counter and leaned on it. “I think she’s probably getting worried about getting caught and that’s why she’s trying to get you to have Ethan look at Mel. Plus, she had everyone at the nail salon thinking it’s Mel, too. And you know what else I’ve been thinking?”

  My eyebrows shot up. “No, what else are you thinking?”

  “I’ve been thinking we should become private investigators. We can get our licenses and help Ethan out and get paid for it, too.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Private investigators? Are you out of your mind?” My sister was known for having wild ideas, but this took the cake.

  She shook her head. “I assure you, I am not out of my mind. Why would I be? I’m serious about it, we can study to take the exam and become private investigators so we can help Ethan out. Maybe the police department would hire us in an official capacity.”

  I stared at her, speechless for a moment. “Yes, you are definitely out of your mind. I told Mom when you were six that there was some wrong with you, but she didn’t believe me. Now I have proof.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me now. “Ha ha. You’re so funny. But why not? Why shouldn’t we become private investigators?”

  “Because we have jobs here the candy store. And because I don’t want anybody to shoot at me.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “We’ll get our own guns and we can have Ethan teach us how to use them.
We’ll hunt down the bad guys.” She grinned at me.

  When she spoke, there was a light in her eyes, and it worried me. “Seriously Christy, I have no desire to become a private investigator. Wouldn’t you miss the candy store? The fudge making? And all the happy people we get to see every day? I don’t know about you, but happy people make me happy.”

  She thought about this a minute. “People are pretty happy when they come in here to buy candy, and that does make me happy. In fact, I’m a pretty happy person in general.”

  “Exactly. We need to make candy so we can make people happy.” We both turned when the door opened.

  Amber Gleason walked through the door and smiled at us. “Hello ladies,” she said. “How are you two this afternoon?”

  “We’re great. How are you doing, Amber?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Well, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve had a craving for your mother’s fudge for several days now. I decided there is no use holding out any longer and that’s why I’m here now.” She went to the display case and peered in.

  “Well you came to the right place then,” I said. “The raspberry white chocolate fudge is a special Valentine’s Day flavor. Have you tried it?”

  “Oh yes, it’s great. I’m so glad your mother came up with that flavor. Although, I do miss her pumpkin spice fudge.”

  “We all do,” Christy said, and came over to lean on the front counter. “Pumpkin Hollow Days can’t get here soon enough. I need more pumpkin spice fudge.”

  “You can say that again,” she said absently as she looked into the display case again. “I think I’ll take a quarter pound of the raspberry fudge and a quarter pound of the peanut butter fudge. I’ll hate myself in the morning, but I’ve got to have it.” She looked at me and laughed.

  I opened the back of the display case and removed the trays of fudge. “Wait until spring. Our mother will have some new flavors.”

  “I can’t wait. I love your fudge,” she said as I began cutting the fudge. “So, Mia, how is Ethan doing on Logan’s murder investigation? I’m sure he’s got his hands full on that case.”

  I glanced at her. “He’s still working on it.”

  She nodded. “You know, I’ve been thinking things over and if Mariah didn’t kill Logan, I think Fred Tillman from the Pumpkin Hollow garage may have done it.”

  I was in the middle of cutting the peanut butter fudge and I looked up at her. “Fred Tillman? Why?”

  She shrugged. “Because he’s a hothead, and he had an argument with Logan a few weeks ago. He overcharged him for some work he did on his car.”

  I looked at her. Angela from the bakery had said the same thing. Was it true? Or was this just recycled gossip? “How do you know about the argument?”

  She stepped closer to the front counter and glanced at Christy and then back at me. “I had stopped in to ask how much a new battery would cost for my car and they were in the middle of the argument when I walk through the door.”

  “So you heard it yourself?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, I heard it myself. Logan accused Fred of overcharging him for doing some work on his car and Fred denied it. He said he only charged him what was necessary. And then Logan said he was going to report him to the California Bureau of Automotive Repair and take him to court.”

  I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. “Really? He said that?”

  “He did. And Logan also said he was going to report him to the Better Business Bureau and make sure that everybody knew what a cheat he was.”

  “I always thought Fred was a good guy,” Christy said.

  She waved away the comment. “Fred? Please! He’s a thief. I thought everyone knew that?”

  Christy shook her head. “Apparently not. I’ve brought my car to him before and I never had any trouble with him.”

  She leaned on the front counter. “Well, maybe it depends on if he likes you or not? I wouldn’t do anything more than buy a battery from him, or get an oil change. If he gets into any of the more complex repair work, he is going to cheat you. Believe me, he will cheat you.” She said the last part slowly, emphasizing each word.

  “I didn’t know that about him either,” I said. “So Logan was really angry?” It seemed odd that he and Fred would argue like that since Logan and Mel had been such good friends for so many years. Maybe Mariah was telling the truth when she said Logan was trying to distance himself from Mel.

  She nodded. “You better believe it. And he started threatening him, and Fred got in his face and said he had better keep his mouth shut or he was going to be sorry.”

  “Really,” I said slowly. “Did you happen to talk to Logan afterward? About the repair work?”

  “As a matter fact, I did,” she said. “I happened run into him at the grocery store and I brought it up. He said Fred ended up lowering the price by three hundred dollars and apologized. Said he made a mistake about what repairs were needed. I asked him if he was going to report Fred anyway and he said he had half a mind to do it, but he didn’t want to be bothered.”

  I nodded. “Well, if Fred made things right with him, then why would he kill him?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, it was just something I thought about. Maybe he didn’t trust him not to report him. Or maybe he did end up reporting him.”

  I nodded. There was a possibility that Logan had reported him. I wondered if there was a public record of something like that. Probably not. But if Logan was as angry as she and Angela were making him out to be, I would have thought Logan would have mentioned it to Ethan when they were hanging out. I made a mental note to ask Ethan if Logan had brought it up to him.

  I wrapped up her fudge and put it into a bag and she paid for it. She picked up the bag and looked at us. “Well girls, I better get back to work. If you see Ethan, maybe you should let him know what I said. I think he really needs to check into it.”

  I nodded. “I will.”

  We watched as she left and then turned to each other. “What do you think about that?” Christy asked me.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. It seems like if Logan was satisfied that Fred had reduced the bill, he probably wouldn’t have reported him. And if he didn’t report him, then Fred didn’t have any reason to kill him.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. If I had to take a guess, I am betting Amber is the killer.”

  “Why?”

  She was quiet a moment. “I don’t know. There’s just something about her that I don’t like. I never noticed it before, but there’s something off about her. She feels guilty. Call it a gut feeling.”

  I was suspicious of Amber, too. The way she had slung mud at Logan before he died still didn’t sit right with me. She had no ethics.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to go snowboarding the other day,” I said, sitting across from Ethan at the local pizza place. We were in a corner booth with a good view of the front door. Ethan liked being able to see who came in.

  He looked at me and grinned. “I knew you were reluctant to learn to snowboard, but I didn’t think you’d resort to murder to get out of it.”

  I snorted. “Ha ha. You’re so funny. I wouldn’t go to that extreme to get out of snowboarding. Besides, I enjoy spending time with you no matter what it is that we’re doing.”

  He sat up in his seat. “Does that mean you would run a marathon with me?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Maybe I should rephrase that last statement. I love spending time with you doing almost anything you want to do. As long as we’re together, I’m going to be happy.”

  “Except for if I want to run a marathon,” he said and picked up his glass of iced tea and took a sip.

  “Except for running a marathon,” I confirmed.

  He chuckled. “You are something else.”

  I took a sip of my iced tea. I was trying to not go for the obvious and ask him how the investigation was going. He needed a breather from work, and I hated pressing him all the time, but
I did need to know details.

  “It’s a wonderful day today.”

  The day had been sunny, and the snow was beginning to melt. I wasn’t fooled though, I knew we weren’t anywhere near spring yet and there would be plenty more snow this season.

  He nodded. “It was a nice day today.”

  The waitress came and took our order before I could say anything else. I decided on spaghetti with meatballs. Ethan ordered the Hawaiian pizza with jalapeno peppers, his favorite.

  “So, I said glancing around.” It was early yet and there weren’t many other diners in the restaurant. “How are things going? I know, you can’t tell me everything you know, but I have to ask you. Are you close to arresting anyone? Hold up one finger for yes and two for no.” I couldn’t hold out any longer. I had to know.

  He was in the middle of taking a sip of his iced tea when I said it and he nearly choked with laughter over it. When he’d settled down, he shook his head. “Not as close as I would like. We’ve been talking to everyone, of course, but nothing solid yet.”

  I nodded. “I think Mariah probably had the most reason to do it.”

  “And why do you say that?” he asked, sitting back.

  I shrugged. “They had a volatile relationship. They’d recently split up, and even though they got back together, there was always trouble between them. And I think she’s resentful that he wouldn’t marry her.”

  “Mariah does make me suspicious,” he said quietly. “There’s something about her that I don’t like.”

  “What did Logan tell you about her? What did he say about their relationship?” I knew Logan had to have talked about his relationship at some point when they were together.

  He looked at me steadily. “Truthfully? He didn’t say a lot about her. He was concerned that she was high strung and had a nasty temper, though. But he never said he was worried that she might harm him.”

  I nodded. “I don’t imagine anyone wants to think that their significant other might harm them in some way. Especially if we’re talking about murder.”