Nosy Neighbor: All 7 complete Nosy Neighbor cozy mysteries PLUS: 2 short Christmas stories (A Nosy Neighbor mystery)

by Cynthia Hickey

  “What is it?” I glanced inside to see a pipe and several baggies of green stuff. “Is that pot?” Not Dakota. My heart dropped to my knees.

  “It looks like it. What do you want me to do with it?”

  “I’ll take it. Maybe there’s a good explanation.” Although, I couldn’t come up with a single one.

  “Here we go.” Mary Ann dragged a box from behind skateboard equipment. “There are cameras, listening devices, and more. Everything we need.”

  I couldn’t think of anything other than the box in my hand which contained illegal drugs. In a trance I headed for the kitchen. My nephew wouldn’t be home for three more hours. What was I supposed to do with the stuff until then?

  The doorbell rang, bringing me out of my stupor. I shoved the box into Mary Ann’s hands. “Hide it.”

  “Where? The top of the refrigerator?”

  “No. That’s the first place the cops will look.”

  “You don’t even know that the cops are at the door. It could be a salesman.”

  I shook my head. “Matt said he was coming over here.” We were going to be arrested. Dakota would go to juvie.

  “For Pete’s sake.” She dropped the box on the kitchen table. “It looks like a pair of shoes. No one is going to look inside.” She marched past me and to the front door. “Act innocent. It’s my brother.” She opened the door and smiled. “Yay! They brought Chinese food.”

  They? I peered around the corner to see Matt and Wayne carrying boxes of food. We were dead.

  I grabbed the box and set it on the counter next to the toaster. If we acted cool and ignored the box, no one would notice it. I pasted on a grin and grabbed a handful of paper plates from the cupboard. “Thank you for bringing lunch.”

  “You’re welcome.” Matt wrapped his arms around my waist and nuzzled my neck. “I figured you probably hadn’t put anything in your stomach other than drugs, and—”

  “Drugs?” I stiffened, my gaze landing directly on the box in front of me. “Why would you say that?”

  “You are on pain medications, right?” He turned me to face him. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Just a bit muddled, but I haven’t taken any since this morning. I don’t like how they make me feel.” I made a beeline for the table. “Have a seat and Mary Ann and I will tell you what we found.”

  “We will?” Her eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, silly.” I gave her a stern look, trying to tell her to shut up and follow my lead. “I did promise Detective Jones, didn’t I? That I would share all information pertaining to the case?”

  “Oh, yes. Whew!” She sat down and flashed a grin at the men. “She did promise.”

  Matt crossed his arms. “What is going on?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out.” I opened a box of kung pao chicken. “We think we’re focusing on one mystery, when in fact, there may be two.”

  The look on his face told me he knew I was redirecting his attention, but bless his heart, he played along. “Go on.”

  Wayne scooped fried rice onto his plate. “You don’t think Jim’s death is related to the pranks around town?”

  “Maybe in a roundabout way,” I said. “But the pranks aren’t personal. They’re directed at everyone. Jim’s death, while not directed at Mom despite the fact he was found in her store, was still personal.”

  “Makes sense in a strange way,” Matt said. “It at least gives us reason to look at the entire picture from a different angle. Still, Worthington’s death started the whole battle for Main Street. There’s more to his death than an investor wanting his property. You did good, Stormi.” He glanced up and winked. “But now, it’s probably time for you to let us handle it.”

  Wayne laughed. “I guess you had to say that out loud, but you know she isn’t going to listen.”

  “You’re right. I had to say it.”

  “Very funny, you two.” I glanced at the clock. A whole hour had passed since finding the box. I needed to get rid of them before Dakota came home. “I’m very tired. I think I’m going to lie down.”

  “Can I do anything?” Matt stood and helped me to my feet.

  “No, thanks. I’ll just go lie down on the sofa.” I purposely ignored the box on the counter and shuffled from the kitchen.

  Matt lowered me down and covered me with an afghan. “I need to get back to work. Will you be all right? I can have Mary Ann stay.”

  “That would be great. I have some research for her to do.”

  He kissed me, then moved his mouth to my ear. “We’ll talk later about what’s really going on.”

  My smile fled. He tweaked my nose and strolled from the room, taking Wayne out of the house with him.

  “That was close.” Mary Ann plopped into the chair across from me, the box of drugs and paraphenalia in her lap. “Now what?”

  “We wait for Dakota to get home, demand an explanation, and get rid of it.”

  “Isn’t that illegal?”

  “I’m not going to have my nephew go to jail.” I tossed the afghan over the back of the sofa. There had to be a good reason why he had the marijuana.

  For the next two hours, after trying unsuccessfully to put words to paper, Mary Ann and I watched home decorating shows. When the front door opened, we snapped to attention and turned the television off.

  “Dakota?”

  “Yeah?” He stepped into the living room, his eyes widening at the sight of the box on the coffee table. “Where did you get that?”

  “From your room. I was looking for spy equipment.” I crossed my arms, tears pricking my eyes. His guilty expression didn’t bode well for his giving me an innocent explanation.

  “I’m going to the kitchen to give you two some privacy,” Mary Ann said. She gave Dakota a stern look on her way out.

  “I might as well come clean.” He tossed his backpack on a chair. “I took it as payment, sort of.”

  “For what? What kind of job could you possibly do that would require payment in drugs?”

  “I have someone spying on someone, and in order for that someone to do it, they asked me to temporarily hold onto this.”

  “That’s no excuse. Why would you—” My head was starting to ache again.

  “Sometimes as a detective, a man has to bend the rules a little,” he said. “Want to know what I found out?”

  14

  “Yes.” This had better be good.

  He plopped on the arm of the sofa, giving me a clear look at the bottom of his shoes. “Do you know Phil Davidson?”

  I nodded, unable to take my sight off the red paint ground into the design of his gym shoe tread.

  “Well, since he lives next to Mrs. Worthington, I asked him to keep an eye on who comes and goes from her house. In exchange for him doing me a favor, I had to do one for him.” He waved a hand toward the shoe box. “I’m supposed to take the box back to him tonight. His mom said if he didn’t stop keeping the stuff at his house, she was going to toss it.”

  “So, you thought it would be a good idea to keep it here?” I crossed my arms. “You do know I’m dating a police detective, right?”

  “Yes, I’m not an idiot.”

  I hadn’t thought so, but the shoe box stunt made me wonder.

  “She gets a lot of visitors, but the mailman is the one who visits Mrs. Worthington the most. And,” he raised his eyebrows, “she receives a lot of packages.”

  I shrugged. Since she was coming into money, it made sense she would be spending it. “I still don’t see why you had to break the law in order to spy on her. You haven’t found out anything more than what I already knew.”

  “You break the law all the time.”

  “This is not the same thing and you know it.” I shoved to my feet and grabbed my purse. “Let’s go. We aren’t keeping that box in the house one more minute.”

  I explained to Mary Ann where we were going and she decided to head home and make sure Matt didn’t come around until I got home. Rela
tionship or not, I wasn’t sure how much I could get him to look the other way when drugs were involved.

  “You can’t drive,” Dakota said. “You’re on pain meds.”

  “I haven’t taken any since this morning.”

  “You’re weaving.”

  “Fine. Mary Ann!”

  She stopped halfway down the sidewalk. I tossed her the car keys and set the security alarm on the house. If my nephew thought I was still under the influence of medication, it didn’t do my case against drug use any good if I were to drive.

  “Do you want me to stay in the car?” Mary Ann asked when we pulled up in front of Mrs. Davidson’s house.

  “Yes,” Dakota said. “Phil won’t come out if he sees you.” He studied me for a moment. “You either, Aunt Stormi. You’re both too close to Matt.”

  “Then I’ll wait around the corner of the house,” I said. “I’m not letting you speak to a drug dealer alone. I have experience at this, remember?”

  He rolled his eyes. “We aren’t dealing with a gang. It’s one random person who sells pot.”

  Pot that had to come from somewhere other than Phil Davidson. Instead of correcting my nephew, I closed my eyes, said a prayer for wisdom, and had Mary Ann drop us off out of sight of the Davidson’s house with strict instructions to keep her eyes peeled. If it looked like we could be in danger, she was to call her brother right away.

  While Dakota approached the front door of our target, I ducked around the corner and hid behind a juniper bush. Behind the house and to the right was a dilapidated shed that looked as if a strong wind would blow it over. An unlatched door banged to and fro, making it difficult for me to hear anything that might be happening on the front porch.

  “I told you not to bring that back here.”

  I held my breath as Phil and Dakota marched around the house and toward the shed.

  “My aunt found it and said I couldn’t keep it at the house,” Dakota said.

  Phil whirled. “You told her—” His gaze met mine. His mouth fell open. He snapped it closed and continued his march to the shed.

  Since I’d been discovered, I stood and followed.

  “My mom is going to kill me.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a shed so full of broken furniture and boxes, there was barely enough room for the three of us to stand. “What is going on? Are you going to turn me in?”

  “I should, but I have other things on my mind than this. What have you discovered about Mrs. Worthington?”

  He shook his head. “Something is fishy about her and her boyfriend. Also, the last few days, no other man, except for Mr. Franklin, has visited her.”

  “Well, she is getting ready to move.”

  “No, it’s more than that. She’s reverting back to the same type of cowed behavior she had when her husband was still alive. I don’t think everything is rosy in her world.”

  I glanced out the door and toward Ida’s house as Dennis Franklin carried in an armload of boxes. “We need to find out what’s in those boxes.”

  Phil paled and shook his head. “I’m done helping you. If I can’t keep my stash at your place, we don’t have a deal.”

  “Good grief.” I shoved open the door and stepped outside as Mrs. Davidson lumbered across the yard. “I’ll speak to your mother, but you should really consider not selling marijuana.” I was going to have to turn him in eventually, but hoped for a few more days to clear up the mystery surrounding Ida.

  “What is going on here?” Mrs. Davidson crossed her arms, causing her ample bosom to strain against the buttons on her housedress. “If you’re here to buy anything—”

  “No, I’ve hired your son to do a bit of spying for me.” I forced a grin.

  She cocked her head. “Is that so? Well, if it’s legal, I don’t care what you hire him to do. Phil, I told you to get the paint out of the living room.” She turned and headed back to the house.

  “I’m sorry. Mom is usually more friendly, but someone turned her in about the house being in such bad shape.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mom’s a hoarder.” He sighed. “We have thirty days to clean out the house or be evicted. She’s been in a bad mood ever since she found out. That’s how she discovered my stuff. She was going through my room trying to find the cord to the laptop so she could get online to find a professional organizer.”

  I nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Please keep me informed if you find out anything more about Ida Worthington that might shed some light on her husband’s death. I’ll pay you a hundred dollars if your information leads to the case being solved.”

  “Deal.” He thrust out his hand.

  I returned the shake. Noticing a red substance under his fingernails, I slid my hand free as soon as possible. I didn’t know whether it was blood, paint, or something unidentifiable and wasn’t going to stick around to find out. “Let’s go, Dakota.” I made a beeline for the road and Mary Ann.

  “Are you going to tell Mom?” Dakota jogged to catch up with me.

  “Probably. I just don’t know when.” If he were my son, I would want to know, even if it hurt. But first, I needed to find a way to tell Matt that wouldn’t get my nephew into too much trouble.

  “I’m dead.” He climbed into the back seat and slammed the door.

  As soon as we were in the car, I texted him, asking him to stop by the house at his earliest convenience. He responded that he was already there.

  That didn’t bode well. We rushed home to discover him sitting on the front porch, alone.

  “Go to your room,” I told Dakota. “I’ll call you if we need you.”

  He nodded and slipped past Matt without saying a word.

  Matt took a deep breath. “Are you ready to tell me what’s going on? The two of you were stranger than normal at lunch.”

  I told him what Mary Ann and I had found and where we had been. “I was going to tell you, I promise, just not right now. Please don’t arrest Dakota.”

  “I’m not going to.” He resumed his seat on the porch swing and patted the cushion for me to join him. Mary Ann sat in a rocking chair across from us. “We’ve been watching Philip Davidson for months. We aren’t interested in wasting our time with the little guys, we want the ones supplying him.”

  “And we just tipped him off.”

  “Possibly.” He set the swing into motion. “We aren’t dealing with anything as big as the gang a few months ago, but it’s enough for us to assign an officer to the case. Jim Worthington’s death takes precedence right now.”

  “Any more news?”

  “Nope.” He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “You know as much as we do. Jim was killed in the alley and dragged into your mother’s shop. No why or who yet.”

  “Any idea who is harassing the shop owners?”

  He shook his head. “No, and Larkin denies any knowledge of the pranks.”

  We weren’t any closer than we were days ago. I snuggled into him and wondered whether I should mention the red paint on Dakota’s shoes and under Phil’s fingernails. Just when I’d decided it wouldn’t hurt to mention it, Matt’s cell phone rang.

  “Detective Steele.” He listened for a moment. “I’ll take care of it. I’m right across the street.”

  “What?” I straightened.

  “Mrs. Rogers is complaining because you’re associating with a known drug dealer.”

  “How does she know that?”

  “She drove by when we were parked outside Mrs. Davidson’s house,” Mary Ann said. “It looks like she’s expanding her reach where the fliers are concerned.”

  Matt exhaled sharply. “I’ll see if I can get her to stop distributing them.” He tweaked my nose, then planted a quick kiss on my lips. “Tell Dakota he isn’t in trouble this time, but if I find out he’s holding anything illegal for anyone again, I will throw his behind in juvie. Can I take you out to dinner tonight?”

  “I’d love that.”

  “Wear something nice. I’ll p
ick you up at seven.” Another quick kiss and he moved across the street and knocked on Mrs. Roger’s door.

  I stayed outside and watched as the old bat stepped outside and pointed in my direction. If she knew so much, she had to know I was dating Matt. What did she expect him to do? I hadn’t spoken to her or stepped on her side of the street in days. Old woman or not, she needed to find someone else to aggravate.

  Rusty strolled down the sidewalk, stopped and stared at Matt and Mrs. Rogers, then darted across the street and into his house two doors down from Mrs. Rogers. If anyone else had exhibited that type of behavior, I might have thought twice about it. But, considering it was Rusty, I shook it off and waited for Matt to return.

  Fifteen minutes later, he strolled up the sidewalk and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “She thinks you’re watching her through her curtains as she watches television in the evenings and showers before bed.”

  I had no idea what to say to that.

  “I told her it was probably Rusty. I’m headed over there to speak with him now. He has got to stop the Peeping Tom act.”

  I agreed, but sometimes the gentle giant actually discovered things of value.

  15

  I slathered clear lip gloss over a rose-colored lipstick as the doorbell rang downstairs. When it rang a second time, I realized none of my family was home. I grabbed my evening clutch and dashed to greet Matt.

  His gaze racked over the body-hugging black dress I wore. “Wow.”

  I laughed. “I’ve worn this dress before.”

  “You still take my breath away.” He locked the door and set the alarm for me. “Let’s see if we can have a nice dinner without someone shooting at us.”

  “I agree.” Especially since those types of nice dinners were rare for us. Either we were shot at or we ended up chasing down a suspect. It would be nice to act as a normal couple in love for once. “Maybe you should take me out to a fancy restaurant when we aren’t investigating a case.”

  “I can’t get used to the fact you say we are investigating.” He opened the door to my Mercedes, since I refused to climb into his truck while wearing a dress.