Shenanigans in the Shadows

by Kari Lee Townsend

  Shenanigans in the Shadows

  Kari Lee Townsend

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be sold, copied, distributed, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or digital, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of both the publisher, Oliver Heber Books and the author, Kari Lee Townsend, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © Kari Lee Townsend

  Published by Oliver-Heber Books

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also By The Author

  To my first born, Brandon. This is the year you graduated high school and headed off to do amazing things in college. I can’t wait to watch you play lacrosse and hear about all of your grand adventures. No words can describe how proud I am of the man you have become. It was so hard to let you go, but you made it easier just by seeing how excited and happy you are. As a mother, that’s all I can ask for. Thanks for all of your help over the years in brainstorming my stories, and don’t think this means you are done. Love you kiddo!

  1

  “Here we go again,” I said, staring at my big white cat, Morty. He stood defiantly in front of the window in my ancient Victorian house in Divinity, New York, casting a foreboding shadow behind him. A telling smirk crossed his aristocratic face as he shot me a parting look with his jet black eyes and then walked regally out of the room.

  “What do you mean?” asked my best friend and proud owner of Smokey Jo’s Tavern, Joanne Burnham, swiping burgundy curls over her voluptuous shoulder and studying me with curious, smoky gray eyes.

  “Punxsutawney Phil’s six more weeks of winter has got nothin’ on Mischievous Morty’s six more weeks of doom. The look in his eyes just now said it all. Frankly, I can’t take any more shenanigans from either of them. If they don’t knock it off, I’m building a doghouse and putting them both in it!”

  “I take it things still aren’t going well between him and Detective Stone?”

  “They seemed to have called a sort of truce. I just never dreamed that asking Mitch to move in with me would cause so much chaos. Morty doesn’t exactly like to play nice in the sandbox. This end of summer heat wave isn’t helping matters any, either.” I slicked back my short blond hair, praying for a breeze to blow in through the open window. My old house didn’t have air conditioning, something that Mitch hadn’t been happy to discover shortly after moving in a few weeks ago.

  “Maybe Morty’s jealous of the attention you’re giving to Mitch instead of him now that you’re finally a real couple. I just went through that with Cole and Biff.”

  Biff was the beautiful Great Dane pup Cole and Jo had adopted from Animal Angels recently. Poor baby had been abused, but once Cole laid eyes on him, he was a goner. Biff didn’t like to share his daddy with anyone, not even Jo. They had just bought a house with a fenced-in yard in preparation for their wedding and the new family they planned to start soon after.

  I glanced outside at Biff lying like an angel in the shade under a tree in the back yard. “What did you do, tranquilize him? He used to be so hyper.”

  “Nah, he’s a good boy. I just had to let him know who the boss was.”

  “Yeah, well, easier said than done with Morty, considering the house is his and he was gracious enough to let me stay. He’s his own boss, and we all know that.”

  “I wasn’t talking about Morty.” Jo’s eyes sparkled.

  I laughed over that one. “You might be onto something.”

  “Speak of the devil.” Jo grinned as my big brooding hulk of a man Mitch walked through the front door, followed closely by her even bigger tattooed, leather covered Sasquatch Cole. Morty shot outside before the door closed, and Mitch grunted as if to say good riddance, then the men joined us in the living room.

  He frowned at Jo while rubbing his whiskered jaw, the scar that graced it and his crooked nose. “I can only imagine what you two were talking about.” Then he looked at me and arched a thick black brow, the crease on his forehead deepening. I wasn’t about to tell him. Let him worry for a change. Lord knew he and Morty had certainly put me through enough worry as of late.

  “Did you put the rings someplace safe?” I asked.

  “I’m a cop, Tink.” He winked, tossing around my nickname to tease me. He slapped his chest. “I’m the king of safety.”

  Cole’s grandmother had recently died, leaving him her gorgeous set of heirloom wedding rings stored in an antique hand-painted box to give to Jo. He was all his grandmother had left, except for an estranged cousin they never saw, so she’d wanted him to have something special to give to the angel who’d saved his life after his first wife had died.

  Cole’s best man was Jo’s bartender Sean O’Malley. Sean was working closely with Jo’s cousin, Zoe, who was the wedding planner and Sean’s date. He was a blond haired, blue eyed, ladies’ man with dimples to die for and one of my best friends. Loved the guy, but no way was he responsible enough to hold onto the rings, so they’d asked me. As Jo’s maid of honor, the only job I gave Mitch was to guard the rings with his life. A simple, fitting job for a detective.

  If I could get him to stop messing around with Morty and focus, that is.

  “And where exactly would that ‘safe place’ be, Grumpy Pants?” I asked, throwing his nickname at him, minus the wink. I was so not in a teasing mood these days. He was the king of something all right, but safety wasn’t the word that came to mind after the way he’d behaved this morning with Morty.

  He lost his smile, knowing I wasn’t happy with him, and said seriously, “They’re in the garage on my new workbench. No one goes in there but me. They’re safer there than anywhere. I promise.” His eyes softened as he studied me and said in a deep husky voice, “I got this, babe. You can trust me.”

  I couldn’t help melting a little and forgiving him just a tiny bit. “Where’s Granny Gert?” I asked with a lot less irritation, changing the subject.

  “She took off in that big white Cadillac of hers to run some errands in town,” Cole interjected. “She said to tell you she made cookies for Captain Grady Walker and had to talk to the Innkeeper about your parents’ reservations for the wedding.” He shook his buzzed head with a chuckle. “Lord help anyone who gets in her way.”

  Granny Gert had passed her road test with a little help from some special brownies, but the whole town knew to clear out of her way when she hit the road. Needless to say she was Big Don’s best client down at the autobody shop. Her car insurance had to cost more than her car by now, but there was no taking away her independence.

  “Where’d Mitch go?” I asked, just now realizing he was gone.

  Jo shrugged. “I’m not sure. I saw him slip away while Cole was talking.”

  We all stared at each other. No words were necessary. Morty was gone. Mitch was gone. Mischief was bound to happen.

  “I got the front,” Jo said.

  “I’ll search the house,” I added.

  “I’ll take the back,” Cole finished.

  We split up and hurriedly looked everywhere for Morty and Mitch,
aka Mischief and Mayhem. I had a sinking sensation I wasn’t going to like what I would find. Just as I feared, they weren’t anywhere inside the house. When I came back downstairs, Jo had walked back inside through the front door. She looked at me and shook her head, which meant they weren’t out front either. That could only mean one thing. They were out back.

  “I don’t even want to know what they are doing in the back yard,” I said.

  “How bad can it be?” Jo asked.

  Cole suddenly threw open the back door and stepped inside with a dark look on his face. “I found them. You might want to brace yourself before you come out here. Something tells me you’re not gonna like what you see.”

  Jo walked past him and stopped in the doorway, clapping a hand over her mouth, her eyes opening wide.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to see what all the fuss was about. Charging past them both, I ran into the yard and skidded to a stop, my jaw falling wide open. Mitch and Morty stood there, covered in mud and staring at me with guilty expressions. The yard now sported a million holes, giving a whole new meaning to aerating, and all of my flowers had been way more than pruned. They were pitiful. Meanwhile, Biff still sat under the shady tree like the good boy that he was. Jo walked over to him and patted his back, while Cole headed out front to give us some privacy, no doubt.

  “That’s it!” I shouted to the filthy culprits. “You’re both in the dog house until further notice.”

  “I can explain,” Mitch said. “When Morty didn’t come back inside, I just knew he was up to no good. And sure enough I found him out here digging up your rose bushes with all these holes in the yard. I tried to catch him and make him stop. That’s how I got so dirty myself.”

  Morty hissed at him, and then just blinked at me, looking down his nose with distaste as if daring me to take Mitch’s side over his.

  “I’m done with excuses.” I swiped my hand through the air, too frustrated and angry at both of them to even think about sides. I adored them each for their own unique qualities, but they were making my life miserable. If they couldn’t learn to get along somehow, then I honestly didn’t know what I would do. All I knew for sure was that none of us could go on the way things were right now. “Please clean up this mess.” I rubbed my temples and counted to ten. “How can I have Jo’s wedding shower here with you two screwing everything up?”

  “Jo’s wedding shower is the least of our worries,” Cole said gravely as he reappeared from the front of the house. “The wedding’s on hold for the time being.”

  I gasped. “What?”

  “Why?” Jo asked with a shaky voice, looking ready to cry.

  Cole met Mitch’s eyes and angrily said, “Can’t have a wedding without rings, now can we?”

  “What are you talking about?” Mitch asked confused and clearly frustrated. “The rings are fine. I put them away myself.”

  “Call it a hunch, but something made me check the garage.” Cole sighed heavily before dropping the bomb, “My grandmother’s wedding rings are missing.”

  2

  “I can’t believe someone broke into the garage while we were all a few yards away right inside,” Jo said later that day while pouring me a beer as I sat at the rich mahogany bar in Smokey Jo’s Tavern. She bit into one of the cookies Granny had made me bring to cheer her up and sighed as her eyes rolled back in her head in pleasure. According to my grandmother, there was a cookie for everything.

  “I know. It’s crazy.” I snagged a cookie for myself, took a bite, and tried not to moan. I had to admit Granny’s amazing cookies really did make the world a better place.

  “It’s insane, and yet ingenious because they got away with it.” Jo dimmed the lights. Amber lighting cast the perfect ambiance as seventies folk music played softly in the background. The lunch crowd was long gone as she and Sean got ready for the dinner hour. Work had been the perfect therapy for Jo after getting so upset earlier, while Cole had taken Biff and gone to work at the construction site to burn off his anger and frustration.

  “Mitch always says most burglaries happen in broad daylight and sometimes even while the people are home,” I responded and then took a much needed sip of the draft before me. I still felt horrible about the priceless heirloom rings going missing on my watch. “I can’t believe someone would have the nerve to go through with something like that.”

  She shook her head, and her ponytail bounced. Her lips trembled, but she bit them hard. After a minute, she said, “Those rings were all Cole had left of his family.”

  “You’re his family now.” I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, Jo. Mitch feels awful. He won’t rest until he fixes this.” He and Jo had been close friends long before I ever came into the picture. Not to mention he was a great detective. If anyone could figure out what happened, Mitch could.

  “I know.” She took a deep breath and got back to work, talking as she wiped the counters. “I thought he said nothing was missing except the rings? It just looked like someone scratched the door while trying to unlock it, then they must have figured out it was already unlocked and went inside. Then they trashed the place.”

  “He called his partner Fuller, and they’re looking for prints or any other clues that might shed some light on what happened. But I think you just hit on something important,” I said, scrunching my brow while I pondered the clues. “The robber trashed the place, yet nothing was missing except the rings. It’s almost as if the person went there specifically looking for those rings. Like whoever did this knew you were bringing them over today.”

  Detective Stone might be a good cop, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do my own thing, especially when this particular mystery affected my best friend. After helping to solve three different crimes recently, I had begun to trust my instincts. And right now they were telling me I was onto something.

  Jo stopped wiping the bar and looked at the ceiling as though trying to recall some incriminating detail. Finally she said, “I have no clue who could have known about the rings Cole planned to give me, let alone that they are priceless heirlooms.”

  “Sure you do, lass.” The blond-haired, blue-eyed hottie with killer dimples, Sean O’Malley, sauntered through the kitchen door, carrying a big crate of clean glasses to restock the bar. His Kelly-green, snug-fitting, T-shirt read: I’m Irish: Kiss me for luck!

  “What are you talking about?” Jo asked, throwing a towel over her shoulder and hanging the glasses from the top of the bar.

  “Remember the phone call Cole got yesterday from his cousin, Diana?” Sean refilled the napkins and salt and pepper shakers while he talked.

  “You mean the crazy woman he hasn’t spoken to in a decade?” Jo snorted, rolling her eyes.

  “That would be the one. I remember Cole wasn’t too pleased with her. She didn’t bother to come to the funeral or have anything to do with their grandmother in years, yet she felt entitled to those rings after their grandmother passed. That’s a wee bit selfish I’m thinking. His grandmother had a soft spot for you, and Cole has always been close to her, never leaving her side at the end. It’s only fitting the rings go to you and not her.”

  “Thanks Sean,” Jo gave him a quick hug, “but what does that have to do with what happened today?”

  “Only the fact that Cole told her in no uncertain terms she couldn’t have the rings. That they were being held in a safe place by a trusted friend. It’s not too hard to figure out who that trusted friend is, given that Sunny is your maid of honor and I’m his best man. Hell, even I didn’t trust myself with them. I’m the one who told him to give the rings to Sunny. Diana only lives two hours away. She could have easily come to town and tracked Sunny down.”

  “You know, you’re not as dumb as you look,” Jo said teasingly, smacking him with her towel.

  “Dumb enough to let this lass slip away from me,” he said, winking at me. “Right love?”

  “Oh, please. If I hadn’t said no to you, then you never would have met an even better lass in
Zoe. You’d do well not to screw that one up, Romeo.”

  Ever the flirt, he replied, “I wouldn’t say she’s a better lass, just better for me in that she hasn’t learned to see through me yet.”

  “On the contrary, my friend.” I met his gaze with a knowing look and a wink of my own, “I think she’s seen exactly through to who you really are, and that scares you to death.”

  His charming smile slipped a bit, and he cleared his throat. “I think those spirits have gone straight to your head. Better be careful before you lose your mind completely.”

  “And you’d best be careful before you lose your heart for real this time.”

  “Touché, I fold. Time to get back to the kitchen since it’s getting a bit hot out here.” He backed toward the kitchen, waving his hand in the air while carrying the empty crate with his other.

  “Chicken,” I called after him, to which he clucked and flapped his arms all the way out the back door.

  “Do you think he could be right?” Jo asked, looking wide-eyed and shocked. “I mean, they’re family.”

  “They’re related, not family. There’s a difference, and trust me, money can make the crazy relatives come out of the woodwork. I think it’s worth checking into.” I flipped my phone open and dialed the detective.

  “Detective Stone here,” came the deep voice I adored through my cell, but I squashed the impulse to sigh. He still had a lot of making up to do for contributing to our first experience as a couple being so stressful. I knew everything wasn’t going to be perfect after he moved in, but I never expected the degree of difficulty both he and Morty would cause. They needed to worry a bit, because if we were ever going to work, something had to give and soon.

  “Hi, Detective. Sunshine Meadows here. Anything new?” I kept my tone formal and my words all business.