“Um, because he’s as guilty as the rest of them?” Gemma suggested.
Nick laughed and then grimaced and touched his lip.
“Yeah, he was guilty alright. The cameras were constantly running and being downloaded to a hard drive right there at the front desk. Every few days he would change out the CPU, take it home and do the editing from there.”
“And no one paid any attention to what he was doing because he worked on the computers all the time,” Gemma guessed.
“Right. Muzak and Cunningham would approach the victim, show him the video or sometimes just part of it, and threaten to upload it to their website if they didn’t pay up. It was a pretty lucrative scheme.”
“And Holland was getting a cut?” Gemma asked.
“According to him, not a very big one. That was the real reason he called me. After Muzak’s death, he wanted to make sure someone knew that Joel was involved in that as well as the murder.”
“He wasn’t involved in the murder,” Gemma said.
Nick looked surprised. “Really?”
“Really,” Gemma said and covered her mouth as she yawned. “But I’m too tired to talk about it now.”
“I’m going to take a hot shower, assess my wounds and get some sleep myself,” he said, patting her leg gently.
“Nick, I’m glad you’re safe. It looks like you’re going to get some good stories out of this,” Gemma told him.
“And possibly some job offers. We’ll see. I just know the next few days are going to be crazy,” he said.
“We are still going home tomorrow, right?” Gemma asked.
“Yes, I’m sure the sheriff has everything she needs, thanks to you. I may have to come back up at some point but we can go home tomorrow,” he assured her. “Gemma, listen I’m sorry this romantic weekend turned out to be such a bummer.”
Gemma just nodded and said quietly, “Don’t worry about it.” Settling back onto the pillows, she pulled the covers up to her chin. She was asleep within minutes.
When she awoke the next morning, Nick was passed out on the sofa next to the fireplace. She found that curious, but then remembered that they were no longer playing a part. The cameras were gone, the culprits were going to prison for hopefully a long time, and she was happy to be going home. Humming softly to herself, she showered and dressed in jeans and a sweater. She dried her hair, pulled it back into a pony tail and put on a minimum amount of make-up.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she sang to Nick when she saw him sitting up on the sofa, his hair a tousled matt of curls.
“Thank you. Do I smell coffee?”
“Yep, and hot cinnamon rolls were just personally delivered by the chef,” Gemma told him.
In the kitchen, she poured his coffee, placed two of the gigantic rolls on a plate and carried it to him.
“How did you make that happen?”
“I just know how to sweet talk a man out of his...” Gemma hesitated and then laughed aloud. It felt like the first time she’d laughed in weeks. She’d almost said buns.
Nick laughed too when he realized what she had almost said and they sat side by side on the sofa in front of the fire, friends again.
Nick had just stepped out of the bathroom dressed in jeans and his trademark bulky sweater when someone knocked at the door. They exchanged glances and Nick shrugged.
Gemma opened the door to find Sheriff Donna Burton standing there, hat in hand.
“Well, hello, Sheriff,” Gemma said. “Please come in.”
“Good morning, Nick,” she said, stepping in out of the cold.
“Would you like some coffee?” Gemma offered.
“No, I really just came to tell you that we got full, written statements from Joel, Holland and Natasha last night confessing to the whole blackmailing scheme,” she said. “Thanks to you, Nick.”
“My pleasure,” he said.
“And, Gemma, any time you want to go into the private detective business, you just let me know. I think you’d do a fine job,” she said.
Gemma wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but she laughed politely.
“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you’re free to leave whenever you want and I wanted to personally thank both of you for your help in this,” she added, finally putting on her hat.
“What will happen to Cozy Valley Lodge now?” Gemma asked.
“Missy will probably run it until everything is all untangled, legally. It’s brought in some pretty good revenue for the county for the past few years so I’m sure some kind of arrangements will be made to help her out,” she explained.
“Good,” Gemma said.
“I don’t suspect you two will be back any time soon,” she said, looking from one to the other.
“Only if it relates to the case,” Nick said with a laugh. The swelling had gone down in his lip and the bruise over his eye was a pretty purple color.
“At least this will be one Valentine’s Day neither of you will forget,” the sheriff said, opening the door and stepping out into the sunshine.
“You can say that again,” Gemma said, following her outside.
“Be safe,” she said, turned and walked down the path toward the lodge.
The drive back home was subdued, Gemma and Nick each lost in their own thoughts. When they pulled into her driveway, she pulled the box containing the diamonds out of her purse and placed them on the console between them.
“I’m sure you’ll want to return these pretty quickly,” she said. “No need keeping diamonds lying around your apartment.”
“Yeah, and I need to get this Escalade back to Buddy,” he told her.
“Do you have time to come in?” Gemma asked. “I have a present for you.”
Nick didn’t move, didn’t answer right away. He just sat there staring out the windshield and Gemma knew something was very, very wrong.
“I think we need to take a little break,” he finally said.
Chapter Twelve
“From each other, you mean,” Gemma said quietly. Her heart thudded in her chest and she was almost afraid to look at him.
“Yeah, I think some space would do both of us good,” he finally said, his gaze still on the windshield.
“This is awfully sudden,” Gemma said softly.
“Not really. I’ve been thinking about it for a little while. As much as we care about each other, we might just need a little time apart,” he added.
Why wouldn’t he look at her? Gemma nodded, fighting back tears. “You might be right.”
They sat there in silence a while longer and then Nick said, “Here, let me help you with your bags.”
“No, I can get them,” Gemma told him, opening her door and dropping down to the pavement. She grabbed her purse. “If you can just pop the back open for me that would be great.”
Almost immediately she heard a little click and the back door rose quietly on hydraulic hinges. She was able to reach her bag, pull the handle out and pull it behind her up the driveway. She paused at his open door.
“Thanks for taking me with you,” she said.
“Thanks for going. I couldn’t have pulled it off without you.” Still staring straight ahead.
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you around,” Gemma said, feeling strangely awkward in front of this man she’d known most of her life.
“Take care of yourself, Gemma,” he said. She watched him put the car in gear and back down out of the driveway.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to me,” Gemma said as she unlocked her front door and pulled her bag inside.
She had turned the thermostat down before she left and the house felt cold. After turning that up, she started a fire in the fireplace and began putting her things away. But as she headed for the laundry room, she passed Nick’s present still sitting on the counter and burst into tears. After all these years, even when she called off their engagement, Nick had been one of her closest friends. He always had her back. She could talk to him about anything. What was she going to do
without him?
She was still sniffing when her cell chimed and Holly’s name appeared on the screen. “Hi,” Gemma said, struggling to sound cheerful.
“You’re back,” Holly said, happily.
“Yes, just got in,” Gemma said and sniffed.
“You sound funny. Is everything okay?”
“I think I may have just picked up a little cold,” Gemma lied.
“Solving murders will do that to you,” Holly said. “And I’m sure you were right in the middle of it all.”
“What can I say? I’m a bloodhound,” Gemma told her friend and blew her nose.
“Well, I really just called to see if you and Nick wanted to go out with us to dinner tonight. Mitch has already given me roses and perfume and a beautiful pair of earrings and...”
“No,” Gemma said, fighting back tears again. “Nick and I won’t be going anywhere together for a while.”
“What?”
“Um, Nick and I have decided not to see each other for a while,” Gemma said, knowing full well that wasn’t what had happened at all.
“Gemma, honey, you never said a word to me about this,” Holly breathed.
“It was a last minute kind of thing,” Gemma explained. “Like just now.”
“Listen, I can’t come over right now, but I think we need to talk about this. Mitch and I are taking grandma to lunch to celebrate her birthday, but I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Holly said quickly.
“Okay,” Gemma told her friend. “But it won’t change things.”
“We just need to talk,” Holly said with finality and hung up.
Gemma finally remembered where she was headed when she answered the phone, went into the laundry room and started the washer. Back in the kitchen she filled a kettle and put water on for tea. Dashing upstairs, she slipped into her favorite gray sweats and a pink t-shirt with little glittery hearts clustered around the hem and the neck. Warm fuzzy socks completed her look and her teakettle began to shriek, which reminded her about the tea.
Bounding down the steps, she missed one and her sock slipped on the edge of the next and the next. Then she was sitting at the bottom. She lay on her back, stunned for a second, then giggled. For some reason, that struck her as hilarious. Gemma pushed up from the floor and sat there for a moment laughing at herself until she realized she was crying again. Then she picked herself up and skated on the hardwood floors all the way into the kitchen.
She had just taken her first sip of the hot tea, burned her lip and then spilled some of the hot liquid on the front of her shirt when her doorbell rang. She checked her watch and frowned. No way had Holly made it here that quickly. Frantically blotting her t-shirt with a paper towel, she opened the door and came face to face with Ross Ferguson.
He looked as gorgeous as ever wearing dark slacks, a cream colored sweater that contrasted with his darker skin tones and a tweed sports jacket.
And there stood Gemma in her gray sweats, the tea stained t-shirt and orange fuzzy socks.
“Well, what a surprise,” she said, opening the door wider so he could come inside. Then she pointed to her sweats. “I obviously wasn’t expecting you.”
“I just wanted to bring your car back. I think I have it fixed,” he said, handing over her car keys.
So much had happened Gemma had all but forgotten that he’d planned to work on her car again this weekend, while she was out of town with Nick.
“Ross, I am so sorry. I totally forgot you were working on the car this weekend,” Gemma said. “Listen, if you’re free tonight I’d love to take you to dinner. We could double date with Holly and Mitch.”
“Actually, I already have plans for dinner,” he said, the look on his face and in those dark eyes was saying much, much more than his words.
“Oh, okay, maybe some other time, then,” she said with a shrug.
“Gemma, you are such a special woman, smart and pretty and talented in so many ways,” Ross said.
“And a heck of a detective. Wait till I tell you about what happened up at Cozy Valley Lodge...”
“I think we need to take a breather from each other for a while,” he said, cutting her off in mid-sentence.
“Put a little distance between us,” Gemma said, her heart sinking.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Okay, if that’s the way you feel, I certainly understand.” She didn’t understand at all, but she wasn’t about to let him know that.
“Good, good. Good. That’s real good,” Ross said, backing toward the door.
“I guess I’ll see you around sometime then” Gemma said, opening the door for him. Hadn’t she just said that to Nick?
“Yeah, probably,” he said, stepping out onto her small porch. “Stay out of trouble.”
She followed and was just about to ask how he was going to get home when a red Mercedes pulled smoothly up to the curb in front of her house. The tinted window slid downward and Gemma caught a glimpse of long blonde hair and a wide, welcoming smile.
Ross trotted down the driveway and then climbed into the passenger seat. The last thing she saw was his black hair gleaming in the afternoon sunshine.
And then that beautiful, bright red car slid easily into drive and rolled away down the street with barely a sound.
Chapter Thirteen
Gemma stood there for a moment staring at the empty street and then she went back inside, closed the front door and leaned back against it. Then she sank to the floor and burst into tears. How could this be happening?
Holly found her three hours later, curled up in a fetal position on the sofa, an empty half-gallon ice cream carton sitting on the table in front of her.
“Gemma, honey, it scared me when you didn’t answer the door,” Holly said, smiling in relief when Gemma’s eyes flickered open.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even hear you. I must have fallen asleep,” Gemma said, shifting to a sitting position. Her whole body ached. The sticky spoon she’d been using to eat ice cream was stuck to the front of her shirt. She peeled it off, wrinkled her nose at it, and tossed it into the carton.
Holly took off her coat and flopped down beside her.
“Celebrating your break up with Nick?” she asked, nudging the empty ice cream carton with her toe.
“And Ross,” Gemma said.
“Ross?”
“Yeah, he decided Valentine’s Day would be the perfect day to tell me he needed a little space. Breathing room. Whatever you want to call it,” Gemma told her friend.
“Oh, Gemma, honey, I am so sorry,” Holly said, squeezing her hand.
“That has to be some kind of record, right? Getting dumped by two separate men on Valentine’s Day. I’ll bet that’s never happened to anyone before,” Gemma told her.
“I don’t know...”
Gemma interrupted her. “Maybe I should call those Guinness people. You know they would probably put me in their World Record book or something.”
“I don’t think so,” Holly said, struggling to keep a straight face.
“Or maybe for the most ice cream eaten in one day. I have another carton in the freezer, you know,” Gemma was up straight and smiling now. “I’m a contender.”
“And you could go get more if you wanted to,” Holly reminded her.
Gemma looked down at her outfit. “Nah, then I’d have to put on pants. I don’t think I’m ever getting dressed again. Just gonna wear this forever. The perfect breaking up outfit. I’ll see if I can just get ice cream delivered.”
Holly giggled. “Ice cream delivery?”
“I know, I’ll order it from Amazon. It should be here within minutes.”
By this time they were laughing hysterically, both of them thinking of more and more outrageous ways to get ice cream to the house as quickly as possible.
When they caught their breath and the laughter died down, Holly said, “I brought wine.”
“Just one bottle?”
Holly shook her head and grinned. “Nope. Two.”
Holly followed her into the kitchen and perched on the stool at the bar while Gemma poured the wine.
“What time is Mitch going to pick you up for dinner?” Gemma asked. “You probably should still be able to walk when he gets here.”
“I asked him if we could do it some other night. He’s already given me a bunch of presents and we’re going to have lots more Valentine’s Days together,” Holly said with a shrug. “I figured you might need me here.”
“That’s really sweet,” Gemma said. “Thank you.”
“That’s what best friends are for,” Holly added.
They clinked glasses in a toast to friendship and then burst into giggles when Gemma spilled some on her shirt, adding that to the tea stain.
“You know, sweetie, I really have been worried that something like this might happen. Love triangles hardly ever end well.”
Gemma picked up her glass. “You’re right, but it could have been a lot worse. A lot, lot worse,” she added thinking about Mr. Muzak, his wife and Joel Cunningham.
After a few minutes, Gemma turned, got the second carton of ice cream out of the freezer and grabbed two spoons.
“Come on, bring the wine,” she said to Holly as she headed back into the living room. “I want to tell you about a love triangle that ended in murder.”
WILLOW MONROE MYSTERIES
Did you love Cupid's Corpse: A Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery? Then you should read Mall Santa Murder: A Cozy Christmas Mystery by Willow Monroe!
Gemma Stone normally hates the Black Friday shopping rush, but this year she’s excited – she and her best friend Holly have opened their very own jewelry boutique, and they’re pretty proud of it. The only downside might be that their fancy new mall kiosk is directly in front of Santa Land, the noisiest spot in the mall.
Cupid's Corpse: A Cozy Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 3) Page 9
