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

by Cynthia Hickey

  “Um, did she?” I ducked my head.

  “What are the two of you up to?” He clunked his glass on the table.

  “Wait until you hear the information she has before you get angry. She has to get rid of him somehow, doesn’t she? I don’t want my sister dead like Jim.”

  “Dennis killed Jim?” Wayne asked.

  “I think so. We just need the proof.”

  Matt scowled. “You leave that up to the authorities. You’ve done a good job digging up information, but there comes a point in any investigation when even the toughest cop has to call for backup.”

  “You’re right. Once Dennis leaves, Angela will come over here, tell you what she found out, and we’ll leave it all in your hands.” I straightened as my food order arrived. The aroma of beef ribs basted in sauce tickled my senses. I practically drooled as I reached for the first bite. “Mary Ann and I will concentrate on who is harassing the shop owners. I don’t think it’s Dennis.” I explained how someone had hired Phil and now that the pranks were continuing, that person was still working hard to run people off.

  I lifted a rib to my mouth and took a bite. Barbecue sauce smeared my face. I could care less. “These are the most delicious things I’ve eaten in forever.”

  “Dennis just fell off his stool.” Mary Ann tapped me on the shoulder.

  I thought she’d been so wrapped up in whispering with Michael that she wasn’t aware of what was going on around her. “Angela is calling him a cab. Good. That means he isn’t dead.”

  “You thought she might kill him?” Matt’s eyes widened.

  “Well, I hoped not, but drugs are iffy, aren’t they?”

  “I do not want to hear this.” He dropped a rib bone on a plate set in the center of the table for such a purpose. “Yes, I do. Did your sister give Dennis Franklin an illegal drug?”

  “I don’t know what she gave him. She just said something to put him to sleep.”

  Matt jumped up from his chair, hard enough to send it crashing into the wall behind him. He rushed to where Dennis lay on the floor. Of course, I had to follow. I wasn’t known as the nosiest of the Nelsons for nothing. Besides, despite what Angela might say, I was as guilty of anything that happened as she was.

  “I just gave him an over the counter sleep aide,” Angela said. “And no more than the required dosage. I don’t want to go to prison, after all. Someone with my looks would never survive. It warns against taking with alcohol because it intensifies the sleepiness. He’ll be fine.”

  Matt helped the extremely drowsy man to his feet and outside to a waiting taxi. I grinned and high-fived my sister before leading her to our table where Wayne pulled up a chair.

  “You two should really consider law enforcement,” he said. “Undercover detectives. You make a good team.”

  Angela shook her head. “I could never work that close with Stormi. She likes to take charge of everything.” She waved for the waitress, then ordered a salad. Big surprise. She held out her hand. “My fifty bucks, please.”

  While I waited for Matt to return, I paid her, then concentrated on my ribs. If I didn’t keep my head down, I’d lose my appetite over the way Angela flirted with Wayne and Mary Ann hung on every word Michael said. Did I act that silly when Matt was with me? I shuddered and hoped I was a bit more sensible.

  “He’ll be fine,” Matt said resuming his place at the table. “But, he wouldn’t stop talking about the beautiful lady in red he was going to marry when he struck it rich.”

  Angela beamed. “My job here is complete.” She filled the men in on what transpired in her conversation with the drunk mailman. She sobered when she got to the fact that Ida was most likely in danger.

  “We need to keep her from marrying the man,” I said.

  “You said you were going to leave it up to the authorities from now on,” Matt said.

  “Right. I did.” Well, I could send the picture I’d taken with my cell phone to Ida. That wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, right? Especially if I sent them anonymously.

  Once we’d eaten, and the empty baskets removed from the table, Matt relaxed and ordered a beer. He rarely indulged, thankfully, so I had no problem with the occasional one.

  “Do you know the two-step?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m not a very good dancer, although I do love to.”

  “I’ll teach you.” He pulled me onto the dance floor and into his arms.

  The steps were simple to follow and soon I was bending my knee and sliding across the floor with the rest of them. Maybe I should indulge in a pair of cowboy boots. Red ones. They’d be better for dancing than flip-flops and way more attractive.

  Angela and Wayne glided past us, their bodies so close together no light could shine between them. I shook my head. They were completely out of step with everyone else.

  “Don’t worry,” Matt told me. “He has a good head on his shoulders. I doubt he’ll make baby daddy number three.”

  “I hope not. I’d like my sister to find a good man and settle down.”

  “Your mother and Robert Smithfield seem to be growing close. I spotted them having lunch at the park the other day. They were as cute as teenagers.” He grinned. “But not as cute as us.”

  The song ended and went into a slow love song. Instead of heading back to the table, Matt pulled me closer and nestled my head into the crook of his shoulder. I could happily stay there forever.

  The sound of glass breaking drew my attention to the other side of the dance floor. A mere breath later, I found myself knocked on my back and staring at the ceiling from the man who had been thrown into me. Matt lunged forward and dove into the tussle.

  I got to my feet and joined Mary Ann and Angela by the safety of the wall. “Why is it that I seem to get knocked down every time I’m on a date with Matt? It’s either that or we get shot at.”

  “Maybe you need to step away from writing violent books,” Angela said. “Erotica is safer and the research a lot more fun.”

  “Gross.” I ducked as a chair hit the wall next to me. “That was almost as if they were trying to hit me.” I would have sworn in court that the man looked straight at me before throwing the chair.

  “It did come close,” Mary Ann said.

  I studied the crowd of punch-throwing, testosterone-induced men. While Matt, Wayne, and Michael did their best to break up the brawl, two muscular men with the glazed-eyed look of people deep into their drink, seemed to focus on the three of us against the wall. Me in particular.

  If my hunch was correct, Matt wasn’t going to want me investigating the pranks against the Main Street shop owners after tonight. I grabbed my sister’s arm and Mary Ann’s. “We’ve got to get out of here. The restroom.”

  We raced into the restroom and barricaded the door with the trashcan and our bodies. “Those men seem to be after me, don’t you think?”

  “Why?” Angela glowered. “You weren’t doing anything but dancing. I was the one enticing Dennis.”

  “I don’t think this has to do with Dennis.” Someone shoved against the door. My feet slid. “Help me.” They kicked off their shoes and planted their bare feet more firmly against the door.

  “I’m calling Matt and telling him where we are,” Mary Ann said. “They’ll take care of those goons.”

  “You do know that if they start shooting, this thin wood won’t stop a bullet,” Angela pointed out.

  “Thank you, Queen Obvious.” I pressed harder, opened my mouth, and did my best imitation of a girl about to be murdered.

  Soon, the tiled restroom echoed with all three of our screams and the shoving against the door at our back stopped. We grinned at each other as Mary Ann’s cell phone rang.

  “It’s Matt. He says to open the door.”

  I yanked it open and jumped aside, just in case one of those ginormous goons waited there. Instead, it was the shocked look of my beloved I came face-to-face with. He swiped a hand across his bloody lip.

  “What is going on?”
/>   “There were two men trying to kill me. Well, I don’t know if they actually wanted to kill me, but they were definitely after me.” I glanced up and down the hall. “I don’t think someone wants me to find out who, and why, the shop owners are being bothered.”

  “The only way for someone to know you planned on continuing that path,” he said, guiding me back to the main part of the bar, “is if that same someone followed you here and listened to our conversation over dinner.”

  22

  It took a lot of guts to listen in on a conversation involving three law enforcement officers. Still, I agreed with Matt and kept glancing around us as he ushered me from the bar. As Matt helped me into his car, Wayne and Angela into hers, and Michael and Mary Ann climbed into mine, I saw the back of a man who looked suspiciously like Thomas. Still, I couldn’t help but feel as if we were being ushered home because we’d broken a rule of some sort.

  We congregated at my place, filling the small kitchen, and eventually spilling into the backyard. Mom and Robert arrived a few minutes after we did, and Mom rushed to make lemonade and tea.

  While I still wasn’t sure how much Robert knew about what I went through to write an interesting mystery, I assumed Mom told him everything. Hopefully, the banker could be trusted.

  “I’ll be calling Dennis Franklin and Steve Larkin into the precinct for more questioning,” Matt said. “As the only two people who might have a grievance against you, they’re the most likely to have hired muscle to threaten you.”

  “Don’t forget Mrs. Rogers.” I stretched out in a lawnchair.

  “I’m serious.”

  “I know. Do you think the fight at the bar was a ruse to get you away from me?”

  “Yes. But, I also think that if someone wanted you dead, you would be. I think those two strangers were only meant to intimidate, not physically harm. With all three of us men away from you, it wouldn’t have been hard to kill you.”

  “Since you officers are here,” Robert said, stepping out of the kitchen, “I’d like to file a complaint. If you want me to go in the morning to make a formal statement, I will. It seems the bank, and other shops, have a sudden infestation of rats.” He speared me a glance. “You need to get to the bottom of this. It won’t take long for the rodents to gain access to the bakery.”

  I put a hand to my chest. “Why are you looking at me?”

  “It doesn’t appear as if you’ve done anything with the information I gave you.”

  “She told me,” Matt said. “All it did was make Steve Larkin a person of interest. Having a lot of money in the bank doesn’t mean the man is committing a crime or intends to commit one.”

  Robert shrugged. “Perhaps, but it isn’t Dennis Franklin that I see skulking around town. It’s Larkin’s man, Thomas.”

  “I’m hearing that from several people.” Matt planted a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning. Again, don’t go anywhere alone, and make sure you at least have your Tazer.”

  “I will.”

  The men left, leaving us women to sort through the details alone.

  “I wish I would have been at Roy’s,” Mom said. “I love a good honky-tonk fight.”

  “You should have seen Angela. She deserves an academy award for the way she came on to Dennis.”

  Angela blew on her nails and wiped them on her shirt. “I was amazing, wasn’t I?” She grinned. “It wasn’t easy. The man smells of body odor. I have no idea what Ida sees in him.”

  Which reminded me I needed to have some photos delivered to the widow in the morning. I’d make sure Angela’s face wasn’t recognizable. I appreciated my sister’s help and didn’t want to repay her by putting her in danger. I’d been there done that.

  “I’m ready for bed. It’s been a long day.” I pushed to my feet.

  “I’ll be over in the morning,” Mary Ann said, walking with me into the house. “What’s on the agenda?”

  “Delivering cheating photos to Ida, then spying on Larkin, I guess. Maybe follow Dennis around a bit. I feel like we’ve run up against a brick wall again.”

  “What does your gut tell you?”

  “That Dennis is the killer. I just don’t know how to prove it.” Unless I accused him face-to-face, which it might come down to. I’d wait until after Matt questioned him in the morning. “He’s the one with the most to gain over Jim’s death.”

  “What about Phil?”

  “I think he got in the way.” I walked her to the front door and watched as she headed down the sidewalk toward the house she shared with Matt.

  Across the street, Mrs. Rogers’s curtains fluttered into place. From the opposite direction, my neighbors, the Salazars, waved as they entered their house. A moment of guilt over them taking over most of the Neighborhood Watch responsibilities washed over me. Maybe I could give them a potted plant as a thank you gift. In yet another direction, Rusty meandered toward his house. He dragged what looked like the handle to a shovel. The sound was so much like bony fingers scratching against the floor that I shuddered.

  I waved and went inside. Mom and Angela had already gone to their rooms, leaving me to turn off the lights and close the house up for the night.

  In bed, I stared at the ceiling and did something I rarely allowed. I called for my cats, Ebony and Ivory, and Sadie to all crawl in bed with me. Sadie lay her massive head across my legs and let out a contented sigh. I reached down and played with her ears as my brain whirled in an effort to find something solid to take to Matt in regards to Dennis.

  I had nothing other than a feeling deep in my gut that I had learned not to ignore. If Matt didn’t find the evidence he needed during his interrogation tomorrow, I would have to instigate a violent reaction from Dennis.

  Thankfully, I fell asleep by midnight and got seven hours of sleep before Sadie nudged me to the fact she needed to go out. I padded to the kitchen, let her out, then shuffled to my office where I printed out the photos of Cheating Dennis. I located an empty manila envelope and slid the pictures inside. Now to figure out a way of putting them where she was bound to see them and Dennis couldn’t find them first.

  “Put the envelope between her door and the screen door,” Mary Ann said when I asked her an hour later. “Then, make an anonymous phone call letting her know the pictures are there. Dennis will be busy at the station for an hour or two. If we go to Ida’s now, we should be able to leave the photos and get out without being discovered.”

  “Good plan.” I’d skip my morning coffee until we made the drop off. But, there was no way I could spy on Steve Larkin without caffeine.

  We pulled in front of a house a few doors down from Ida’s and ran at a crouch to her front porch. While I headed behind a bush and dialed her phone number, Mary Ann slipped the envelope between the door and the screen, rang the doorbell, and leaped behind the bush with me.

  “A package has been delivered,” I said, making my voice as hoarse as possible when Ida answered.

  Seconds later, the front door opened. Ida stepped out, glanced around, then noticed the envelope. She opened it, cursed, and marched inside, leaving the screen to slam closed behind her.

  First job of the day, check. I high-fived Mary Ann and ran for the car. Once inside, I texted Matt, who told me that Dennis had a rock solid alibi for the night of Jim’s murder. “Let me guess,” I said, showing Mary Ann the text, “his alibi is Ida.”

  “I don’t think she’ll cover for him anymore.” She grinned. “I also don’t think she’ll change her story, because it might implicate her, but it won’t hurt to let Matt know so he can question her again. Let’s head to the station. Have I mentioned how much I love being your assistant?”

  “Wait until I actually have a license. We’ll really have fun, then.”

  As we pulled in front of the police station, Steve Larkin was getting out of his car. He glanced our way and frowned.

  “Can this day get any worse?” He asked.

  “I’m sure it can.” I returned his frown with a smile. �
�Let’s see if I can help.” I crossed my arms and blocked the entrance to the station. “A couple of thugs tried to kill me last night. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now, would you?”

  “This is ridiculous. I’ve given up on this insane town.” He leaned against the hand rail. “No amount of money is worth this trouble.”

  “So you do know about it.”

  “They were only hired to scare you into backing off, not hurt you. You are the most tenacious woman I’ve ever met. Next to you, is the beautiful Norma, who I gather only agreed to go out with me in order to gather information for you.” He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. “Look, Miss Nelson. I admire a woman with your spirit. I’m not going to admit to hiring Phil Davidson or anyone else to terrorize the shopowners. I’m going to answer a few questions for Detective Steele and leave town. Will that make you happy?”

  I thrust out my hand. “Very happy, Mr. Larkin. I wish you luck. Maybe you can build that mall in Harrisburg. The citizens are a little more sane over there.”

  “I will take that into consideration.” He gave me a pained smile and entered the precinct.

  One down, one to go. Dennis Franklin was going to be a tougher egg to crack.

  Mary Ann and I followed Steve into the building. While he was led to a back room by Wayne, we approached Angela at the reception desk.

  “I have to tell you,” she said. “Dennis was not happy to see me sitting here.”

  “Is he still being interviewed?” I asked.

  “No, he left about fifteen minutes ago. After giving me the third degree about whether I worked for the police in an official,” she made quotes for official, “capacity, he got a phone call that made his face turn red, and dashed out of here like his plump rear end was on fire.” She shook her head. “He promised to call me tonight.”

  “You gave him your phone number?” I thought she was smarter than that.

  “Of course.” She gave an evil grin. “I told him to call 871-5673.”

  I peered over her desk at the phone and tried to decipher the message. “You called him a loser?”

  She shrugged one pink silk-covered shoulder. “He won’t know that. He’ll only know there is no such number. The guy is weird. I can’t be caught alone with him.”