Chocolate Heart Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14

by Kathleen Suzette

  “You can say that again,” he said. “But we just don’t have enough proof of anything yet.”

  He sounded frustrated when he said it and it made me feel bad for him. I knew he wanted Logan’s killer arrested.

  “What about the car? Weren’t there fingerprints all over it?” I suddenly had a picture of the killer putting his or her hands on the lower body of the car as they scooted beneath it. Or what about the brake lines? I had no idea what they looked like, but I wondered if it was a clear plastic tube that would pick up fingerprints.

  “Sure, there were handprints all over that car. Logan had recently had the car into the garage, and Logan’s and Mariah’s handprints were all over it. And there were a lot of smudged prints on it, but they weren’t useful to ID anyone.”

  “Had he had it washed recently?” I asked. “Would that have removed fingerprints?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think he did. He kept it in the garage and with it being as cold as it has been, I doubt he’d washed it in a while.”

  I sat back in my seat, thinking things over. “What about the argument he had with Fred Tillman? Two people said he had an argument with Fred over work that was done on his car. Could he have cut the brake lines when he took the car to him and the fluid slowly leaked out?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s been about a month since Logan took his car in. If damage was done to the brake line that long ago, the fluid would have leaked out a lot faster than that. He would have had that accident a month ago.”

  I sighed. Logan’s murder was getting to me, so I knew it was getting to Ethan. “How are you holding up?”

  He looked at me and shrugged, but I could see the weariness in his eyes. “I’m fine. Honestly, hunting for his killer has given me something else to think about besides missing him.”

  I nodded. “I guess that’s a good thing.” I wasn’t sure it was, but I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “So have you decided on a date for the wedding?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “Have I decided on a date for the wedding? Isn’t that something we’re supposed to do together?”

  He nodded. “I guess we could decide on it together, but since I’ve been busy, I figured you had had plenty of time to think about when you wanted the wedding.”

  “Well, to be honest, I was waiting for us to have time together to decide on a date. But the more I think about it, the more I think I want the wedding to be in October.”

  “That’s a shrewd suggestion,” he said and chuckled. “So are we going to do it then? A Halloween themed wedding?”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “I really don’t think I want to go full out Halloween. But, I think we could do some cute things with orange and black decorations. Maybe a jack-o’-lantern here and there. Or, maybe we’ll just do a harvest theme. Lots of pumpkins and maybe a few corn stalks in the centerpieces or at the reception somewhere. I think we could do some really cute things with a fall theme.”

  He nodded. “That sounds like fun. So, bridesmaids’ dresses. Orange?” He raised one eyebrow when he said it.

  I grinned. “I don’t know if I can get Christy into an orange dress,” I said thoughtfully. “But maybe. Maybe we could do some of the bridesmaids in black and some in orange. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  He nodded. “Yes, but that’s more of a Halloween themed wedding and not a fall themed wedding. And I’m perfectly fine with either.”

  I picked up my glass of iced tea and took a sip. “I’m not going to say I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but maybe I have because I already have all kinds of ideas. I think we could do cute pumpkin and Indian corn centerpieces for the tables at the reception.”

  “Have you decided where we’re going to have the reception?” he asked, folding over his napkin.

  “I can’t decide everything,” I protested. “I want you to be involved in this, too.”

  “I’m going to be involved in it,” he assured me. “I just want to hear your ideas. And honestly, I’m okay with just about anything. As long as I don’t have to dress up as a skeleton.”

  I gasped. “A skeleton? I hadn’t thought of that. Are you sure you don’t want to be a skeleton?” I teased.

  He nodded. “I’m sure I don’t want to be a skeleton.”

  I chuckled. “There’s a part of me that thinks we should take some more time before getting married, and there’s a part of me that thinks we should get married next week.”

  He shook his head. “Neither will work. Our families aren’t going to be happy with us if we just run off and get married next week. Let’s do this thing right. Let’s have a great big six-tiered wedding cake and all the fancy clothes, and all the flowers.”

  “You’re a sentimental man at heart, aren’t you?”

  He shrugged, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Maybe. I just want something that we can look back on twenty years from now and remember how much fun we had and how in love we were.”

  “Correction, how much in love we will still be. In twenty years, we will be more in love than we are now. I’m making a prediction.”

  He lifted his glass of tea and held it up to me. “Let’s drink to twenty years of love and beyond.”

  I lifted up my red plastic glass of iced tea and clinked it against his, then I took a sip of my tea. “Well beyond twenty years.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I pulled up to the Pumpkin Hollow garage and parked my car. I’d been in need of an oil change for weeks now and every time I got into my car, the little oil can light on the dashboard glowed and I knew I had better get in here and get it done before disaster struck. My dad assured me it wouldn’t strike, as long as there was oil in the car, but it was best to get it changed regularly. I hated taking my car in to be worked on almost as much as I hated to go to the dentist. But more important than my dislike of taking my car in to be worked on, was that I hoped I might find out something from Fred or Mel that would be useful to the investigation into Logan’s death.

  The garage parking lot was free of snow and I was thankful for that as I got out of my car and headed up to the office door. I pushed it open and walked in, inhaling the scent of grease. Mel was leaning against the front counter while Fred sat behind it. Mel turned and looked at me.

  “Well Mia, how are you today?”

  I let the door close heavily behind me. “I’m great. How are you doing, Mel?”

  He nodded. “I’m cold, but what’s new? What brings you to our humble establishment?”

  “I am in desperate need of an oil change, and I’m hoping you have time to do it while I wait.”

  “I think we can accomplish that. Sometimes during the winter when it’s so cold, people don’t want to bring their cars in unless they absolutely have to, so you’re in luck. There’s no waiting and we have the time.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that.” I turned to Fred who was sitting behind the counter on a tall stool. “Hi Fred.”

  He nodded. “Hi Mia. I’m glad we can be of assistance to you today.” He picked up a clipboard with blank work orders on it and began filling one out. I gave him my address and phone number and handed my keys to Mel.

  Mel took my keys to the other mechanic who was out in the garage while Fred finished filling out the sales ticket. When he was done, he handed me the clipboard and a pen so I could sign for it.

  “It’s been awfully cold these days, hasn’t it?” I said absently as I signed for the work to be done.

  He nodded. “You better believe it. I tell you, the older I get, the more I think I need to move to the coast. They don’t get snow like this and my bones have been complaining about it.” He winked at me.

  “Right? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered whether I should move to a warmer climate, but unfortunately, I can’t take the whole town of Pumpkin Hollow with me.”

  He chuckled. “I guess there are some drawbacks.”

  Mel returned from giving the instructions to the mechanic and he
sat down on one of the stools next to his father. “So, how is Ethan coming along with the investigation into Logan’s death?”

  I turned to him and sighed, still leaning against the front counter. “You know how it is. He’s been working on it. It’s been so hard on him, with Logan being his friend like he was.”

  He nodded, glancing away, then turned back to me. “I still can’t believe it. Logan’s gone. It just doesn’t seem real.”

  “It’s one of the hardest things to deal with after someone dies. It just doesn’t seem like they could really be gone,” I agreed.

  He stuck his hands in his pockets. “The more I think about it, the more I think that Mariah had to have killed him.” He was somber as he said it.

  “Do you think so?” I wondered if he knew something more that he hadn’t mentioned earlier. I hoped so.

  He shrugged. “Their relationship was volatile. They had so many problems, and I just think she lost her temper and killed him.”

  I nodded. “It does seem like they had their troubles. But I guess a lot of people do.” I watched him, waiting for him to say more.

  He was quiet a few moments, and then he said, “I just think she has to be the one. I was talking to Amber about it the other day, and she agreed with me. She thinks Mariah is his killer.”

  “Amber? I didn’t realize you were friends,” I said carefully. He had pointed a finger at Amber earlier, but now he was friends with her?

  He shrugged. “I guess we aren’t close friends, but I know her. I happened to run into her at the grocery store the other day and we stopped and talked a minute. She thinks it’s probably Mariah, too.”

  “Do you have any real reason to think she might have done it though? More than just that they had problems in their relationship?”

  He was quiet again and glanced at his father. “Well, I heard the last time they got into an argument, she threatened him. She told people that she was going to make him pay for what he did to her.”

  “What did he do to her?” I asked.

  “He cheated on her.” He blinked.

  I stared at him. “Cheated on her with who?” This was the first I’d heard of that and I couldn’t imagine Logan cheating on anyone.

  “With Mariah’s sister, Tara.”

  “Really?” I said, taking this in. “I had no idea. When did this happen?”

  “In December when they had that argument. When they split up for the last time.” He moved closer and leaned over the counter. “Can you believe it? Cheating on her with her own sister!”

  I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think Logan had it in him to do that to anyone, and certainly not with his girlfriend’s sister. “Are you sure about that? Who told you?”

  “Amber did. Amber knows Tara really well. They’re friends.”

  I was stunned by this news. “Amber told you that? I’ve talked to her a couple of times and she never mentioned it.” I was skeptical. Why was this coming out now?

  He shrugged and looked away. “I don’t know. That’s what she told me.”

  I wasn’t sure that Mel was telling the truth. “What about Amber? Amber wasn’t very nice to Logan when he was alive. She spread rumors around town and said awful things about Logan and his barbershop. And you told me you thought Amber was the killer.”

  It wasn’t lost on me that Logan’s parents had also pointed at Mel as a possible suspect. And now he was saying that the victim had been a cheater? It felt wrong, talking about Logan that way when he wasn’t here to defend himself.

  He turned back to me. “Amber? I think I made a mistake. I guess I was so angry about Logan’s death that I may have jumped to conclusions.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. Something wasn’t adding up. “I guess I can see where that might happen. But Amber spread rumors around town that people had gotten lice after going to Logan’s barbershop. That’s a heck of a way to ruin a barber’s business. And she wouldn’t do that unless she had something against him.”

  His face clouded over. “Look, I know you want to believe the best of Logan, but I’ve been to his barbershop. It really wasn’t that clean. There were times that I was afraid I was going to come away with something.”

  I was shocked to hear him say that about Logan. “What do you mean? Ethan went there all the time, and he never had a complaint about it.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe I just showed up on a bad day. Maybe he hadn’t had time to clean up between customers.” He glanced at his dad who remained quiet.

  When neither of them said anything else, I sighed. “Yeah, maybe he was just having a bad day and hadn’t had a chance to get things cleaned up, like you said.”

  I didn’t want to hear these things about Logan, and I hoped they weren’t true. It would break Ethan’s heart to know that Mel, someone that was supposed to be Logan’s best friend, was talking about him that way.

  He turned back to me. “I think that was probably it. And I’m really not trying to badmouth Logan. He was my friend, after all. I’m just saying, I don’t think he was a saint. And who else would know that better than his best friend?”

  He might have had a point. Logan might have confided some things in Mel. “But you have to admit that Amber was unkind in the way that she behaved before he died,” I pointed out.

  He nodded. “I guess. But Logan had no business cheating on Mariah the way he did. And since Mariah knew about it, that gives her a really good reason to kill him.”

  He also had a point about that. If he really did cheat on Mariah with her sister, and she knew about it, it suddenly made sense for Mariah to be Logan’s killer.

  Mel picked up a pen and twirled it between his fingers. “I just think it might be a good idea for Ethan to check into this. Maybe talk to Mariah’s sister. I hear they’re not speaking to one another anymore, so she would probably be willing to tell everything she knows.”

  “If it’s true, I could see where they might not be speaking anymore,” I said slowly. It was a shame if all of this was true and the two sisters were no longer on speaking terms because of something like that.

  He nodded. “You better believe it. Those two have never gotten along, either. And since Tara had an affair with Mariah’s boyfriend, you can imagine how bad things have to be between the two of them now.”

  “I sure can,” I said thoughtfully.

  “I’d put my money on Mariah,” Fred said, leaning forward. “So many things about her point to her being the killer. Ethan needs to have a serious talk with her.”

  There was something about Mariah that I didn’t like, and Ethan had said the same. Maybe it was true. Maybe she really had killed her boyfriend. Something that would be even sadder with Valentine’s Day coming up. She certainly had reason enough to do it if Logan had cheated on her with her sister. And maybe her sister had better be keeping an eye on her, so she didn’t end up being the second victim.

  Chapter sixteen

  It wasn’t any coincidence that I ran into Mariah’s sister, Tara, the next day at the grocery store. I had seen her driving in that direction and since I happened to be going in the same direction, I followed her into the parking lot. She parked near the front where there weren’t any more parking spots, so I parked halfway back and watched as she got out of her car. Would she really have an affair with Logan? Her sister’s boyfriend? I just couldn’t imagine it, but Mel had said that she and her sister hadn’t gotten along before the supposed affair. Maybe she had done it out of spite.

  When Tara had selected a shopping cart and pushed it inside, I got out of my car and followed after her. The sky had clouded up, and I felt a couple of light sprinkles. I glanced heavenward. The weather had warmed up again today and I thought we were in for a slushy mess if the sprinkles turned into heavier rain.

  Tara was headed for the produce department, so I pushed my shopping cart after her. When she stopped at the bananas, I came alongside of her and reached for a plastic bag.

  “Oh, Tara,” I said, smiling. “What a surp
rise. How are you doing?”

  She glanced at me. “Hi Mia, I’m good. I’ve got to get some bananas.” She chuckled. “I’ve been putting off the grocery shopping for almost a week and my cupboards are pretty much bare. How have you been?”

  I shrugged. “I’m doing just about the same as you are. Putting off the grocery shopping until it absolutely has to be done. One of these days I’ll get organized and get it done before I run out of everything.” I picked up a bunch of bananas and put them into the plastic bag. “Sure is a shame what happened to Logan Michaels, isn’t it?”

  Her eyes widened a bit. “It really is. I can’t believe it. I keep thinking there’s no way somebody could have killed him like that.”

  “Did you know Logan well?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  “I don’t know if you can say I knew him well, but he’s been dating my sister for several years now. Or was, I mean. It still doesn’t seem real.”

  “They dated for a long time, didn’t they?” I asked and set the bag of bananas into the front of my shopping cart.

  “Yes, they dated for about five years, as hard as it is to believe.” She chuckled again.

  I turned to her. “What do you mean by that?”

  She shrugged. “My sister, she is something else. High maintenance is what I call her.”

  I nodded. “I guess somebody that’s a personal trainer might be high maintenance. I would imagine being in that profession, she feels a lot of pressure to have everything together and be in great physical condition.”

  “I guess you could say that,” she said with a smirk. “But I was really referring to being high maintenance emotionally. She’s always been so high strung, you know.”

  I nodded. “It happens to the best of us,” I said lightly and chuckled again. I didn’t want to make her think I was being nosy, but I was. Were the rumors of the sisters not getting along true? Because the way she spoke of her, it almost sounded like Tara may have had something against her sister.