A Frozen Scoop of Murder - The Bundle Edition (Books One to Six): Cozy Mysteries

by Constance Barker

  “I might like that.”

  I had to stifle a giggle.

  “Naw, just give me a cup of coffee if you would sweetie…with cream.”

  “Stormi put her hands on her hips. “Now you do realize that creamer has dairy in it, right.”

  “Of course it does,” Charlie replied. Oh, this was getting better and better.

  I could tell Stormi was getting exasperated. “But you said you can’t eat dairy.”

  “No I can’t eat it,” Charlie said. “But I can drink it.”

  Stormi threw her hands up, turned around, and grabbed a cup to pour the coffee in.

  Charlie looked at me and motioned for me to come closer. “I like to get her going,” he chuckled. “Thing is, I can’t eat a lot of dairy, but a teaspoon in my coffee doesn’t bother me.”

  “We don’t need to tell her that,” I smiled.

  Charlie nodded in agreement. He rolled to a nearby table and I sat down with him. Stormi brought over his coffee and joined us. Sammy took care of the few customers that dwindled in. We talked about the concert and how his son and daughter in law and grandkids were coming down for Thanksgiving. Then the talk turned to the accident.

  Charlie leaned back in his wheelchair. “Have they figured out what happened? I saw in the paper they think there was foul play involved.”

  “Now Greg didn’t tell me anything, but Tara and I think someone messed with the brake line because Mrs. Morgan kept saying she didn’t have any brakes. She’s now saying she didn’t have any control over the steering as well and that’s why she wrecked into the parked SUV.”

  Charlie scratched his chin. “That’s odd.”

  “Why do you say that Charlie?” I asked.

  “Well, I was watching the vehicle as it came down the road. There were no other cars parked down the street except the one SUV in front of the hardware store. It was early and not many places were open yet.”

  Stormi was getting impatient. “Yes…go on.”

  “So, I was watching and I could see inside that it was a woman driving. All of a sudden, I saw her pull the steering wheel to the right. She plowed that car right into the parked SUV like she meant to do it.”

  Stormi slapped her leg. “I knew it! She set this whole thing up! Wait a minute…Charlie, why didn’t you tell the police?”

  Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “No one asked.”

  Stormi gave him the wide eye look. “Lord have mercy. Okay, I’m calling Greg.” She pointed a finger at Charlie. “And you aren’t going anywhere Mister.”

  “Yes Maam,” he answered as she went to find her cell phone. He leaned over to me and said, “She’s cute when she’s worked up.”

  I got up and slapped him lightly on the arm. “And you know just how to get her worked up.”

  The last customer walked out of the shoppe and Sammy came over to me. “I was trying to listen. Did I hear that right? Charlie saw Mrs. Morgan steer into the SUV?”

  I nodded. “Yes that’s what he said.”

  The shoppe door opened and in walked Bruce. “Charlie my man. How you doing?”

  Stormi marched back into the shoppe from the back room. “He’s been telling us that Mrs. Morgan steered straight into that SUV.”

  Bruce took a chair by Charlie. “Is that right?”

  Charlie opened his mouth to say something but he was way too slow.

  “Yes that’s right,” Stormi interjected. “I’m telling you all right now that woman planned the entire show to blame it on her stepson.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Stormi,” I said. “There could be more to this story.”

  At that moment, the door chimed open and Paige entered. “I could have figured I’d find you here,” she said to Bruce.

  She placed a bag on the table in front of him. “Here’s your ink cartridge. I feel like a hole’s been burned through my brain trying to figure out all those stupid numbers.”

  Bruce patted her hand. “You’re such a good wife.”

  Paige rolled her eyes and then looked at Charlie. “So what brings you across the street Charlie?”

  He raised his cup of coffee. “I hear the cops are coming for me.”

  Paige took a seat. “What’d you do this time old man?”

  Charlie took a sip of his coffee. “I didn’t tell the police some vital information. But they never asked.”

  Paige looked up at the rest of us. “What’s this about?”

  Before we could answer, Officer Greg Manning walked through the door to the shoppe. He took Charlie towards a back corner table where they could talk without us eavesdropping, despite Stormi’s protests that we already knew what he had to say. However, Greg was attempting to do this one by the book.

  Once they were finished, Greg headed back to the police station and Charlie decided he’d had enough excitement for the day and scooted the two blocks to home. After Brandon and Winchester arrived, I closed the shoppe early. That evening I asked Brandon what he thought about the case.

  “It does seem odd that she says her steering went out, but Charlie claims to have seen her veer right into the parked vehicle.”

  I brought us a couple of glasses of lemonade and set them on the coffee table. Winchester lay at one end of the couch. “Your sister thinks Sandra is lying only to blame her stepson Jeremy to get him out of the house.”

  Brandon tilted his head. “You don’t seem to agree?”

  I sat down next to him on the couch. “I don’t know. On the one hand, Stormi has a point. But something doesn’t feel right. Not that I trust Sandra Morgan…I barely know her, but like Bruce, I don’t see her putting herself in harm’s way. If she did she’s way more dangerous than we thought.”

  Brandon took a sip of his iced tea. “Is there anyone else in the picture that could have done this besides the Morgan woman and her stepson?”

  I thought about it for a second. “There’s Jeremy’s mother, but she lives in New York now, although I did hear she’s been in town for the last two weeks visiting.”

  “Aha!” Brandon exclaimed. “There’s your culprit.”

  I shook my head. “You’re joking right?”

  Brandon shrugged his shoulders. “Why not…the ex-wife comes down on the pretense of a visit and then screws with the car of the viper that whisked her husband away.”

  “Yes, but she couldn’t take the chance that one of her sons might be in the car when it crashed. Nope, no way the ex-wife did it.”

  Brandon set his tea glass on a coaster. “You have a valid point.”

  We decided to drop the subject for the remainder of the evening, but that night my mind kept creeping back to the situation. Something strange was going on, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps tomorrow would bring to light more information. I wasn’t disappointed.

  *****

  The next morning I had a large ice cream delivery. I was in the back of the shoppe putting away barrels of sherbet and ice cream into the freezers when Stormi marched in.

  “Greg said they couldn’t determine if the steering had been tampered with because there was too much damage to that area.”

  “Good morning to you too,” I said lifting the last barrel into the huge freezer. Winchester barked a hello as well.

  Stormi ignored both of us. “I told him he better keep an eye on that woman and if he didn’t I would.”

  I closed the freezer door. “I’m hoping Sammy stays away from their house.”

  Stormi looked at me curiously. “Huh? You agree with me?”

  I walked towards the front of the shoppe as Stormi followed close behind. “Not necessarily on Sandra Morgan incapacitating her own vehicle, but I do think it better if Sammy stayed away from the house.”

  Stormi pulled her blond curls up in a bun. “I agree. Hopefully they don’t spend a lot of time there anyway. Maybe we should have a talk with her when she comes in.”

  I opened the register to put in change and bills. “Maybe we should mention it to Paige and she can say s
omething to Sammy.”

  “Why are you always the voice of reason and I’m the one flying off the handle?”

  I gave her a smile. “That’s why we complement each other so well.”

  Stormi smiled then looked out the front shoppe window. “Oh no she isn’t!”

  I looked up from the cash register as Stormi flew to the front of the shoppe to peer out the window. “What’s going on?”

  Before I could get the last word out of my mouth, Stormi marched out the door. I ran to the window to see what had her in such a tizzy. And there it was. Ol’ Charlie was sitting in his usual spot and Sandra Morgan was standing over him giving him what for…or so it appeared. Of course, Charlie didn’t seem in the least bit dazed as he took a toke from his cigar.

  I stood glued to the spot as I watched Stormi walk up on them. Sandra and Stormi talked over Charlie who continued to look out over the street as if they weren’t there. I had to chuckle. Here were two squabbling chickens standing right over him and it was as if they weren’t there. I was so entranced by the spectacle across the street I was startled when my door chime rang and Trixie entered.

  Trixie pointed out the window. “What the heck is going on over there? I do believe Charlie is rather enjoying the attention.”

  I nodded my head as I kept an eye on the three. “No doubt. Evidently Mrs. Morgan found out that Charlie told police he saw her steer directly into the parked car, when she said she had no control over the steering.”

  Trixie nodded. “Aha. The old coot’s got an eagle eye for sure.”

  We continued to watch and soon after Sandra Morgan left and Stormi walked back into the shoppe where Trixie and I had decided to take a seat with Winchester in Trixie’s lap.

  Stormi walked through the door and said, “You probably lost a customer…and Charlie wants a cup of coffee with cream.”

  “Don’t leave us hanging girl, what was the commotion about?” Trixie asked.

  Stormi poured coffee into a paper cup. “She told Charlie he was mistaken, that she wasn’t deliberately trying to steer the car into the SUV. She said she was simply trying to get the steering to work by moving it back and forth.”

  I got up from my chair and moved behind the counter. “That does make sense.”

  Stormi put down the coffee cup. “Really?” She shook her head. “Nope, I think she’s lying through her teeth.”

  All of a sudden we heard sirens. “Now what?” Stormi exclaimed as she put the creamer in the coffee.

  An ambulance parked right outside the shoppe and two medics jumped out. The three of us stood frozen at the window. Even Winchester placed his two front paws on the window to look outside.

  “Oh no, they’re going into Bruce’s office!” I exclaimed. My heart raced. Please don’t let anything happen to my friends. I was about to run out when Trixie grabbed my arm and pointed. The medics were helping a woman walk to the back of the ambulance. It was Sandra Morgan. Bruce and Paige were walking behind them.

  We came out of my shoppe and walked over to Bruce and Paige. Stormi carried Charlie’s cup of coffee.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “She came in the building and said she wasn’t feeling well,” Paige explained. “We had her sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and she almost passed out so I called an ambulance.”

  One of the medics came over to Bruce and said they were taking her to the hospital to be checked out. After the ambulance pulled away Charlie yelled from across the street. “You got my coffee?”

  Stormi looked at us. “Nothing deters that man from his coffee.” She crossed the street with Charlie’s coffee.

  I turned to Bruce and Paige. “What do you think happened?”

  Bruce leaned against the building and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure. Hopefully she wasn’t poisoned.”

  “Why does your brain go there?” Paige asked. “Maybe her blood sugar was low and she got woozy. There could be a number of simple explanations.”

  Trixie wasn’t as convinced. “Yes, but you add in the deal with the car accident and now she’s sick…what’s the kids say nowadays…it sounds hinky.”

  Stormi came up behind us and waved the air in front of her face. “Maybe it was the aroma of Charlie’s cigars. Even I’m feeling a little peaked after getting a snout full.”

  Trixie agreed. “Yes those things are pungent. But surely it wouldn’t make her almost pass out.”

  We all agreed and decided to table the discussion as it was time to open my shoppe and Bruce had clients coming in. However, when Sammy came in for her shift after school both Stormi and I pounced on her for any information on Jeremy’s mother. Even Paige raced over from Bruce’s office when she saw Sammy.

  Stormi cornered Sammy in the back as she put on her Frozen Scoop apron. “What happened to Jeremy’s mother?”

  Paige and I gathered around her. “Still don’t know. They’re running blood tests. They gave her fluids at the hospital to flush out her system, and she’s home now.”

  “Are they thinking she was poisoned?” Paige asked.

  Sammy shook her head. “Don’t know until the tests come back.”

  “This is getting stranger by the minute,” Paige remarked.

  I wasn’t sure what to think. We still didn’t know the test results, but like Trixie alluded too…if it walks and talks like a duck. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait long before we knew the outcome of the blood tests. Around 6:30, Colton, Jeremy and his little brother Joshua entered the shoppe to see Sammy.

  The last few customers left the shoppe and when they did Stormi rushed over to their table. “Jeremy, how is Sandra? Did you find out what happened to her today?”

  Leave it to Stormi to be subtle. Jeremy didn’t seem to mind.

  “They found an abnormal amount of sleeping pills in her system. She said she only takes one at night and doesn’t know how that many got into her system. The doctor said it wasn’t enough to kill her or anything like that.”

  I walked over to the group sitting at the table. “But why would someone do that?”

  Sammy spoke up. “Maybe to scare her?”

  Sammy had a good point. Perhaps someone wasn’t trying to actually hurt her but to scare her. But why? Jeremy had his head down while Joshua looked over the ice cream in the case.

  “Joshua, would you like some ice cream?” I asked.

  “Yes please,” he answered. “I’d like one dip of Coffee in a sugar cone.”

  “Coming right up.” I looked over at the group who remained huddled at the table talking about the recent events. Then I looked at Joshua who didn’t seem in the least interested at what was going on thank goodness. I could see how Sandra Morgan doted on the boy. He was soft spoken with gentle manners. Of course in a few years when puberty hit that could possibly change.

  Joshua handed me a couple of dollar bills and I gave him his change. He smiled and took a lick of his ice cream.

  As I walked over to the group still discussing what occurred that day the door opened and a woman said, “Your father thought you boys might be here.”

  Joshua jumped up and ran to his mother. Jeremy stood up and took his cell phone out of his pocket. “Yep, my phone’s dead. Sorry Mom.”

  Jeremy introduced us to his mother. She was decked out in a cream-colored A-line dress and her neck was bathed in large costume jewelry that sparkled amber and orange. When she’d reach up to pull her black hair behind her ear, the three bracelets she wore on her wrist jingled. She definitely looked like she fit more in New York than here. Also, I couldn’t see her crawling under a vehicle to mess with the brakes or steering. That ruled her out, at least in my mind.

  Patsy turned to her sons and said, “I’ll be leaving for New York in a few days and wondered if you boys would like to go with me to Stone Mountain for an overnight trip. I’ve booked a little cabin for us. We’ll cook out, hike, all the outdoorsy things you like to do.”

  “Sounds great!” Joshua squealed.

/>   Patsy headed to the door. “I’ve already okayed it with your Dad. I’ll pick you boys up tomorrow morning at 7.”

  “Ugh, why so early Mom?” Jeremy complained.

  Patsy smiled. “Don’t worry; you can sleep on the way there. Now you better get home and pack. Nice to meet you ladies. I’ll be sure and stop in and actually partake of your goodies next time I’m in town.”

  Patsy Morgan seemed like a nice woman, not bitter at all. But sometimes first impressions can be deceiving. I would find out that it would be so in this case.