Daisy McDare And The Deadly Real Estate Affair (Cozy Mystery) (Daisy McDare Cozy Creek Mystery Book 4)

by K. M. Morgan

  The detective couldn’t wait to tell her as much as she came out from visiting Patrick at his cell.

  “Are you satisfied now?” Detective Crumple asked.

  “Actually, I’m more convinced than ever that you arrested the wrong person,” Daisy said.

  Detective Crumple groaned. “Ms. McDare, face it. I’m right about this one.”

  “You’re going to come to regret those words. I’m going to make sure of it.”

  Detective Crumple was growing increasingly frustrated with their conversation. “Patrick Potter’s finger prints are on the murder weapon. A handful witnesses saw him threaten the victim in broad daylight less than twelve hours before the murder. It’s hard for a case to be more open and shut than this.”

  “At least that’s how it appears to you.”

  Detective Crumple scoffed. “What do you think you see that I don’t?”

  “The killer could have worn gloves, and used the argument between Scott Stinson and Patrick Potter as the perfect cover to frame Patrick,” Daisy explained.

  Detective Crumple shook his head. “Or, Patrick Potter is the real murderer. Have you ever heard the saying about how the simplest explanation is usually the right one?”

  “Of course I have,” Daisy replied.

  “Well, Patrick Potter being the murderer is the simplest explanation—and it is also the right one.”

  Daisy corrected him. “Not in this case.”

  “Oh really? All the evidence points to Patrick. And let me tell you, detectives love evidence.”

  “I like evidence too, but I also like logic. Ask yourself this—if Patrick Potter really did commit the crime, why would he draw Scott Stinson to the construction site, use rope that already had his finger prints on it from previous use, then leave both the body and the murder weapon in plain sight for anyone to find, knowing that all those things would point to him being the murderer?” Daisy asked.

  Detective Crumple was stumped by that question.

  Daisy continued. “The logical conclusion then is, that either Patrick Potter is the dumbest man alive, or he’s being framed for the crime. Let me tell you, Patrick is far from the dumbest man alive.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  Detective Crumple didn’t have a good retort for Daisy’s hypothesis. It did seem awfully stupid for a murderer to leave the body and murder weapon lying around. Still, the detective didn’t want to admit a crack was starting to develop in his supposedly bulletproof theory.

  Daisy wasn’t about to wait for the detective to finish stammering. “That’s what I thought. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get a confession from the real killer.”

  Detective Crumple didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m telling you, leave this case alone.”

  “I was all ready to. This case was all yours. I didn’t want anything to do with it. When you went and arrested my friend—an innocent man—you left me with no choice,” Daisy said.

  “I’m warning you, leave this case alone,” Detective Crumple replied.

  “Not a chance. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some serious sleuthing to do,” Daisy said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  So much for sitting this one out. Instead of watching from the sidelines, Daisy found herself right in the middle of another murder investigation. It seemed like Samantha and Granny Annie were right. The reason the dead bodies kept popping up around Daisy was because she had just what it took to crack cases. She definitely couldn’t rely on Detective Crumple to do it.

  As Daisy made her way to work, she went over the list of possible suspects in her head. Like previous cases she’d solved, there were plenty to choose from.

  First, there was Adam Stinson. He was Scott’s oldest son. A man who had visions of one day inheriting his father’s company. Instead he’d been passed up for promotion in favor of his younger brother Owen. On top of that, Scott had a reason to frame Patrick Potter too, as his girlfriend had recently started cheating on him with Patrick.

  Next there was Madison Mitchell, the company’s receptionist. Daisy heard her complain the day before about the long hours, low pay, and near impossibility of her promotion within the company. In addition, she was dating Adam Stinson in hopes of sleeping her way to the top. Only with Owen Stinson’s promotion, Madison realized she had only slept her way to the middle.

  Owen Stinson was the next possible suspect. Sure he’d gotten promoted to general manager of the company, but he had his sights on so much more. He couldn’t wait for his father to retire—a development that Scott Stinson made clear wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

  Scott Stinson’s assistant Ellie Edelson was the next suspect. During each argument Ellie overheard, she seemed to take particular delight in Scott’s misfortune. The job of being Scott’s assistant was definitely a thankless one, but seeing Ellie smile over Scott’s plight just rubbed Daisy the wrong way.

  Kelly Stinson was on the list of possible suspects as well. She was Scott’s unhappy wife, a fact made even clearer by the fact that she had recently discovered her husband cheating on her with one of her best friends. If being Scott’s long suffering wife wasn’t bad enough, Kelly had a knockdown, drag out fight with her husband in his office yesterday where she threatened divorce, among other things.

  Finally, there was Carly Canton. She was the woman having an affair with Scott. She also happened to be one of his wife’s old friends. Daisy didn’t know much more about her than that. Judging by the amount of dirt surrounding everyone that was close to Scott Stinson however, Daisy was sure the rest of Carly’s life was anything but squeaky clean.

  With that many suspects in play, it would be a wonder if Daisy could get any decorating done. Still, she couldn’t abandon her decorating entirely. She had to do at least a little, if only to keep up appearances. The decorating job now became a good cover to poke around and discover who the real killer was.

  While Daisy drove to work, she called Gavin and ran down the list of possible suspects for him. Hopefully Gavin’s private investigator skills could dig up a clue in one of the suspect’s pasts that could break this case wide open. In the meantime, Daisy grabbed a muffin from her purse to snack on. She just wished she had ten more in her purse in case she needed them.

  ***

  Before Daisy could get to decorating the model home, there were others things to attend to. Namely, Scott Stinson’s widow Kelly called the entire sales office staff together for a meeting. With Scott dead, she had inherited her late husband’s business. It remained to be seen if Kelly was planning on taking an active or background role in Stinson & Sons Construction.

  In Daisy’s mind, Kelly was also a potential murder suspect—as was the entire office. While Kelly addressed the staff, Daisy paid close attention to the looks on the employee’s faces. Everyone seemed tight-lipped.

  It wasn’t out of remorse however. There appeared to be little of that going around. Instead the staff look secretive. Desperate to put the murder behind them. Amazingly enough, they all appeared to be looking forward to getting back to business as usual.

  While Daisy was caught up in her thoughts, Kelly Stinson made an announcement.

  “As you know, it has been a very emotional time for not just me, but my entire family. I have good news however. I was informed by the police this morning that Patrick Potter has been arrested for the murder of my husband. While that will not bring Scott back, it will be the first step to bringing closure to this awful period in my life. Maybe now with justice being served, we can try to return to a sense of normalcy,” Kelly explained.

  It was amazing how robotic Kelly was being. She was clearly trying to look distraught, but was failing miserably. Daisy got the sense that Kelly just wanted to race through this announcement.

  “That being said, I have appointed Owen to take over the day to day operations of the company,” Kelly finished.

  Owen Stinson then stepped forward to address the rest of the sales staff.

  Daisy noticed Owen’
s older brother Adam gritting his teeth. Adam had the unfortunate displeasure of being passed over for promotion by both of his parents.

  “Thanks. Like my mother said, it has been a very difficult few days. My father will be deeply missed. At the same time, it’s an honor to take over the company he built up over the last thirty years. I promise, some exciting changes are coming. In the meantime, there is work to be done. Let’s get to it,” Owen said.

  Apparently being emotionally stiff ran in the Stinson family. As with his mother, Owen Stinson was without remorse. His expressions did not match his words in the least. Daisy couldn’t help but wonder how joyless it was growing up in the Stinson house.

  With Owen’s announcement complete, the staff started to move back to their respective corners of the office. Daisy knew who she wanted to talk to first—Adam Stinson. She tailed him right back to his office. Unfortunately, having just been passed up for a promotion, Adam looked about as happy as a porcupine that had just been woken up from a nap.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Daisy proceeded with caution. Not only was Adam Stinson in a bad mood, but he was also the prime suspect on Patrick Potter’s list. Daisy hated tiptoeing around issues, but she couldn’t afford to clomp around like a bull in a china shop on this one.

  Adam Stinson’s motive both to murder his father and frame Patrick Potter were clear. As the eldest son in the family, Adam expected his father to promote him to president of the company by now. Instead he was passed up in favor of his younger brother. Murder would no doubt serve as sweet payback in Adam’s twisted mind.

  On top of that, with Scott out of the picture, Adam would have a better chance at convincing his mother to give him his long-awaited promotion. That did not work out in his favor. As for the Patrick Potter framing, Adam felt burned by the fact that his receptionist girlfriend Madison Mitchell was cheating on him with Patrick.

  Daisy had a lot of questions for Adam. She just had to find a way to ask them in an indirect way.

  “Mr. Stinson, can I talk to you for a second?” Daisy asked.

  Adam’s eyes said “no way.” He looked like he wanted to hide away in his office and stew about being second banana to his younger brother once again.

  At the same time, Adam didn’t seem to enjoy being called “mister” and wanted to put an immediate end to that.

  “Please don’t call me Mr. Stinson. That’s what people called my father,” Adam replied.

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your father,” Daisy said.

  Adam froze up. He looked like he wanted to talk about any other topic at that moment. Even a discussion about tax audits seemed preferable to him.

  “I’m sorry. What about him?” Adam asked.

  “I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your loss. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose your father,” Daisy said.

  “Well thank you. This hasn’t been easy to deal with.”

  Wow. Daisy had seen emoticons on her smart phone more expressive than Adam’s face. He looked more uncomfortable with this conversation than he did about his father’s actual murder. That was some legacy Scott Stinson left. His wife and two kids were complete apathetic about him being gone.

  Daisy knew she had to poke and prod Adam with questions in hopes of getting some kind of reaction or maybe catch him off guard. It was a delicate balance, trying to push someone until they cracked. To plant the seeds of a break down in their mind. All the while Daisy had to remain cognizant that she was talking to a potential murderer—one who may have already killed once, and who most likely wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

  “At least they caught the killer though, right?” Daisy asked.

  “Yeah. I’d like to be able to put this dark event in the past.”

  Daisy finally got a reaction out of Adam. He seemed relieved that the police had arrested someone already. Maybe because he thought he was off the hook. Daisy wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “It may be too soon to close the book on this yet. I heard Patrick Potter is convinced he was framed. Apparently he thinks you’re behind it. Something about you being sore over your girlfriend wanting to be with him more than you,” Daisy said.

  Adam’s eyes lit up with rage. He went from emotionless robot to a volcano ready to erupt in a heartbeat.

  “What?” Adam barked.

  Eek. Daisy probably could have used a more delicate touch in broaching that subject. Now she had to cover up her overreaching.

  “Those were his words, not mine,” Daisy said.

  Adam suddenly looked a little embarrassed about nearly biting her head off. “Oh.”

  Still, Daisy knew she was very close to getting kicked out of his office. She had to be more careful from here on out. “But look, you couldn’t have done it. You were watching hockey at the time of the murder, right?”

  Even though Daisy had just repeated what she heard him say to the police the day before, Adam seemed shaky on his own alibi.

  “Uh—yeah. Exactly,” Adam replied.

  “Is it kind of weird that you weren’t with your girlfriend at the time? Is everything alright between you two?” Daisy asked.

  “Yeah, of course. She um, just doesn’t like hockey.”

  Adam sure sounded unconvincing. Daisy would need more proof, but Patrick Potter’s hunch that Adam framed him from the murder wasn’t exactly far-fetched at this moment. Still, it was clear Adam wasn’t going to crack, and it was too early in the investigation for Daisy to get herself thrown off the job, so she decided to quit while she was ahead. But first, she wanted to plant another seed in his head.

  “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to work. I just wanted you to know that rumor is out there and the police will be looking into Patrick’s allegations,” Daisy said.

  Adam tensed up again. “Police?”

  “Just between you and me though, maybe this isn’t such an open and shut case after all,” Daisy said.

  Adam went as white as a sheet. That’s just how Daisy wanted him. The more nervous Adam was, the more likely he was to slip up. Now she was off to scare the dickens out of another suspect.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Next on Daisy’s list was Adam Stinson’s girlfriend Madison Mitchell. She was the other part of the love triangle, sandwiched between Adam and Patrick Potter competing affection. As Adam’s girlfriend, Madison had plenty to gain from Scott being murdered.

  From what Patrick said, the main reason Madison was with Adam in the first place was to do some shameless social climbing. Getting out from behind the reception desk seemed to be her top priority, and gold digging appeared to be her easiest way to do that.

  With Scott in no hurry to promote her boyfriend however, all of her scheming may have been for not—at least with Scott alive. With Scott dead however, there was a chance Adam would get that long-awaited promotion, and with it Madison could ride his coat tails.

  Even gold diggers had moments of weakness sometimes though, and a few weeks ago, Madison had hers. With her social climbing seemingly hitting a dead end, following her heart back to Patrick Potter didn’t seem like such a bad idea all of a sudden.

  It was all a lot for Daisy to keep track of. Madison seemed to be a highly conflicted woman, and her actions showed that. If there was one thing Daisy had learned about criminals through her various investigations, it was that one bad decision seemed to beget another.

  The deeper the hole that was dug, the harder it was to get out of—until finally someone made the biggest mistake of all. Did that happen with Madison too? Hopefully Daisy would soon find out.

  Madison seemed awfully distracted as Daisy approached her at the reception desk. There was a faraway look in Madison’s eyes. That was good news for Daisy. People had a tendency to let information slip unexpectedly when they were unfocused.

  “Is everything ok?” Daisy asked.

  Madison looked startled as she pulled her head out of the clouds. She pretended to start typing something, acting as if Daisy hadn’t ju
st caught her completely spacing out.

  “Uh—yeah. Do you need something from me? Because I’m really busy here,” Madison deflected.

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Patrick Potter,” Daisy said.

  Madison’s face went white. She started shuffling around in her chair, wanting no part of this conversation. “You know, I really do have a lot of work to do.”

  “Don’t you feel bad about your boyfriend being in jail?”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” Madison corrected.

  “Right. Of course. It must make you feel pretty awful knowing he’s been wrongfully imprisoned though,” Daisy said.

  Madison got really defensive. “What makes you think he’s been imprisoned wrongfully?”

  “Those are his words. He’s actually pretty convinced he knows who the real killer is too,” Daisy said.

  Madison tensed up. “Oh yeah. Who?”

  “Adam Stinson.”

  Madison breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You look awfully relieved to hear that,” Daisy pressed.

  Madison then realized how bad it looked that she breathed a sigh of relief. She scrambled to save face. “Wait, Adam didn’t do it.”

  “He sure had enough motive. Here he is, giving this company years of his life, only to get passed up for promotion in favor of his younger brother. On top of that, he finds out you’ve been seeing Patrick Potter behind his back.”

  “Who do you think you are coming around here and throwing accusations at me like that?” Madison barked.

  “It’s not an accusation. It’s the truth, according to Patrick himself. He told me you started seeing each other again. If Adam found out about that, no wonder he’d want to frame Patrick for the murder,” Daisy said.

  “Stop it. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Adam didn’t kill his father,” Madison insisted.

  Madison was getting more emotional by the minute. Daisy had her just where she wanted her. She had to keep pressing.