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

by Cynthia Hickey

  “I’ll be careful. You do the same.”

  “As much as I hate to say this, go get Maryann. I don’t want you going anywhere alone. Not even the hospital.”

  I nodded. “I’m heading to the biker bar on 64.” I held up a hand to halt his protests. “The leader is a huge fan of mine. I’m in absolutely no danger there. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

  “Wayne and I just came from there.”

  “Those men won’t talk to the cops and you know it.”

  He gave me another kiss. “Be careful.”

  “I will.” I climbed into the driver’s seat and blew him a kiss. I turned the key in the ignition. Nothing but a click. I started to turn the key again, but the hairs on my arms stood up. I rolled down my window. “Matt? My car won’t start.”

  The tone of my voice must have alerted him to the possible seriousness of the situation. “Don’t move.” He yanked his radio from his belt. “Possible car bomb in the parking lot. Make it fast.”

  A bomb? My insides turned to liquid. “What do I do?”

  “Nothing.” He carefully lifted the door handle and opened the door. “Do. Not. Move.” He knelt next to the car and peered under my seat. “There’s a bomb under you. If you move your weight, it will go off.”

  “Which one of our suspects knows how to make a bomb?” I gripped the steering wheel, as if by holding on I could save my life.

  “Anyone can learn just about anything from the internet.” He straightened as a man in bomb gear raced from the building.

  He spent a long ten minutes studying the bomb, then shook his head. “How much do you weight, ma’am?”

  “One hundred and ten pounds.”

  “Exactly?”

  “How am I supposed to know that? I weigh myself in the morning, naked, before breakfast. I don’t know how many ounces.” I was going to die. They were going to calculate my weight incorrectly and I’d be blown into a million pieces. I took a deep breath. I wasn’t afraid, exactly, but there were still a lot of things I wanted to do before meeting my Maker.

  “We’ll have to guess,” he told Matt. “If we stay within a pound, we should be all right.”

  “Should be!” I shrieked. “I love you, Matt!”

  “Settle down before you blow us all up,” the bomb squad guy said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t move.”

  I didn’t plan on it, although my body chose that moment to need the restroom in the worst way. Scared or not, I would not wet myself. I refused. “Is that Wayne in the suit?”

  “Yes. He learned about bombs in the army. You’re in good hands.”

  My fingers ached from gripping the steering wheel. I slowly peeled them one-by-one off the leather and exhaled as I settled back in my seat. “I want you to go in the building.”

  “Not a chance,” Matt said. “If you go, I go.”

  “Roxi needs you. My family will survive.”

  “Stormi, I’d stay with anyone. The fact that it’s the woman I love in danger makes it all the more important. I’m not going anywhere.” His look caressed my face.

  Tears ran down my cheeks. I’d lied to myself. I was scared. More scared than I’d ever been. Where was Wayne?

  As if my frantic thoughts conjured him, he returned with two sand bags. “I measured these the best I could.” His eyes glittered behind his shield. “When I say lift, you lift your rear as high as possible, as fast as you can, so I can slide these in. They’re heavy and I don’t want to drop them. Do you understand?”

  “Better than I’ve ever understood anything.” I positioned my feet against the floorboard of the car in preparation.

  “Matt, when I say now, you pull her out. This has to be done in one fluid motion or we’re all dead.”

  Matt nodded, his gaze locked on mine. “Don’t die. Angela will kill us.”

  Wayne chuckled. “I don’t plan on it. Ready?” He took a deep breath. “Now!”

  I lifted, Matt yanked me over Wayne’s back, and Wayne placed the sand bags. The three of us raced for the safety of the building.

  The car exploded. The concussion lifted me off my feet and slammed me to the concrete. Glass from the station window rained on my head. But…I was alive.

  I rolled over and struggled to catch my breath as my pride and joy, the Mercedes, burned. I could buy a new car. I turned my head to see Matt grinning. I stretched out my hand. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, are you?” He stood and pulled me to my feet.

  I nodded. “A bit bruised and got the wind knocked out of me. Wayne?”

  “I’m here.” He removed his blast shield. “I’m glad you’re Matt’s girl. Dating you would give me gray hairs.”

  “You know you love me.” Still holding Matt’s hand, we limped into the building.

  Angela rose from where she’d apparently hid behind her desk and launched herself at Wayne. “I had no idea you were one of those guys. You could have been killed.”

  “I’m a lot of things, sweetheart, but dead isn’t one of them.” He patted her head with a gloved hand. “Let me get this gear off and I’ll be right back.”

  I glanced out the shattered window as a fire truck and ambulance roared into the parking lot. The windows on a nearby squad car were blown out. Still damage to one car and the destruction of another was better than loss of life. My knees weakened and I sagged into the nearest chair.

  “Bring her some water,” Matt told Angela. “I’ll have the paramedics take a look at you. Your head is bleeding.”

  “So is yours.” I moved his hair out of his face.

  Two paramedics rushed into the building. One dealt with me, the other with Matt.

  Mine shined a flashlight into my eyes. “Possibly a mild concussion, but nothing serious. Does anything else hurt?”

  “Just the scrapes on my hands and knees.” The fall had torn through my jeans and left my knees bloody.

  “I’ll clean those up for you. If you want to go to the hospital, you can.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’ll be very sore in the morning.” He grinned.

  I didn’t doubt that for a minute. I glanced up to see Angela hanging up the phone. “Tell me you did not call Mom.”

  “Of course, I did. You know how upset she gets when we don’t tell her when we’re in trouble.” She brought me a paper cup of water. “I don’t want her yelling at me. I’ve had enough for one day.”

  “You’ve had enough?” I raised my eyebrows.

  She shrugged. “Fine, your day is worse. Mom still deserved to know. She said she’s going to fix you a hot bath and make soup.”

  For once, I’d let her treat me like a child. I stood, my body stiffening, and waited for Matt’s paramedic to finish doctoring him. He had scrapes, same as me, but nothing that needed hospital care. “I’ll drive you home,” he said.

  “My purse, my gun, and my Tazor were all in the car. I want to replace them before heading home.”

  “The gun and Tazor, okay, but you’ll have to call for your credit cards and driver’s license.” He took my hand and led me out the back door to his truck.

  It suddenly looked very high. The thought of bending my knee enough to climb in caused pain before I moved.

  “Let me.” Matt scooped me in his arms and deposited me in the passenger seat. With a wink, he moved to the driver’s side. “I’ve been sore before.”

  So had I, but that didn’t mean you’d see me lifting anything anytime soon. I laid my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. We’d been lucky. I smiled. God must still have plans for me, thank goodness. It wasn’t time to end my life here on earth.

  An hour later, with my body seeming to stiffen with every passing minute, Matt took me home with a new gun, a purple Glock this time, and a new Tazor. He carried me into the house, Mom trotting along beside him, and deposited me on the closed toilet seat. With a kiss and a promise to return later, he left me in Mom’s capable hands.

  She stared at me, her eyes red-rimmed. “You’re going
to be a mother. As much as I’ll miss the excitement, I think you need to go back to making up stories. You should have enough fodder by now to write dozens of books.”

  “You may be right.” At least on days like today, I was willing to agree with her.

  “A car bomb?” Dakota stuck his head around the door jamb. “Cool.”

  “It wasn’t cool at the time.”

  “No, probably not. Glad you’re still breathing.” He ducked back out.

  Mom closed the door. “We’re creating a family of loony tunes. No one cares about the risks.”

  Oh, we cared, we just cared about victims receiving justice more. “Where’s Roxi?”

  “Watching Sesame Street.” She turned on the water in the tub. “Strip down while I check on her.” She grabbed a packet of Aveeno and sprinkled the flakes into the tub before leaving.

  I disrobed and slid into water as hot as I could stand it. As I let the heat soak away some of my aches, I contemplated my next move.

  A rental car then a visit to the biker bar. And…I’d hire someone to guard the car while I was inside the bar.

  Who would have thought a simple out of town bachelorette party could lead to murder?

  20

  The next morning, every muscle ached, and I shuffled to the kitchen for a pot of coffee. “’Morning.”

  Mom chuckled. “With the way you’re walking, I guess there isn’t anything good about it, except for the fact you’re alive.”

  “Can’t say the same about my car.”

  “Matt dropped off a car for you this morning. The keys are on the foyer table.”

  Bless that man. “Great. I’d hate to drive that rickety van of yours anywhere.” Especially to a biker bar with the words Heavenly Bakes in big cursive letters. There’d be a stampede.

  My cell phone rang. Caller ID said it was Pritchard. I exhaled sharply and answered. “Stormi Nelson.”

  “I haven’t heard from you. Is this how you do business?”

  “I’m tying up loose ends.”

  “Her car was blown up!” Mom yelled across the room. “Cut her some slack.”

  “Excuse me?” Amanda’s voice lowered. “Did I hear correctly?”

  “Yes. Someone planted a bomb in my car.”

  “Gracious. Should I be worried?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.” The selfishness of some people astounded me. “What we’ve gathered on your case so far is that Dixon took the pictures in an attempt to blackmail you.”

  “So Lincoln Burnett had nothing to do with it?”

  “It doesn’t look like he did.”

  She sighed. “I marched into his office the other day and made a scene.”

  “I heard. My suggestion to you is to focus on your campaign and leave Lincoln alone. It will only backfire on you if you don’t.”

  “Good idea. Send me the bill.” Click. Another name marked off my list. That left Cheryl Miller, Susan Burnett, and the elusive Jordyn Townsend. Not that I thought the officer killed anyone, but I wasn’t ruling her out.

  I gave Roxi a kiss. “Can you watch her today, Mom?”

  “Of course. She loves coming into the bakery. She made her own cookies yesterday.” Mom showed me a tray of unidentifiable shapes. “They’re delicious.”

  “Take one.” Roxi pointed.

  I grabbed a lopsided circle and took a bite. “Yum. Sugar cookie.”

  “You bit the dog’s butt.” She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

  “Did I?” I met Mom’s amused glance. “Well, the head is next.” I turned the cookie around and took another bite.

  “Where are you off to?”

  “I’m picking up Maryann and visiting Steak and Leather.”

  “No one visits that place.” Mom frowned. “They get in and out as fast as possible. Alive, preferably.”

  “I’ve made friends.” I grinned and poured coffee into a travel mug. “If you don’t hear from me in an hour, call the cavalry.”

  Five minutes later, Maryann was sliding into the passenger seat of my rented Mustang and handing me my favorite coffee concoction. “I had Tyler deliver. I think he has a crush on me.”

  I dumped the plain coffee into the grass. “Thanks. And, any young man under the age of thirty has the hots for you.” Her blond curls, blue eyes, and dimpled smile would sway any man, no matter how old.

  We parked next to a row of Harleys and I slipped a fifty dollar bill to a man standing outside smoking. He agreed to watch the car for the time it took to smoke a cigarette. I’d take what I could get.

  Inside, I squinted through the dim light, spotted Ben Haverson, and made a beeline to his table. “Can I ask you a few questions?”

  “Darlin’ you can ask me anything.” He motioned for us to sit.

  “I paid the man outside to watch my car, but I don’t have long.”

  “You have all the time you need.” He told someone else to tell the man out front to stay as long as needed. “I heard about the explosion. Scared me for a minute. I thought there wouldn’t be any more books. Make sure you put me in one of them stories.”

  “Guaranteed.” I returned his grin. “Did you speak with a police officer by the name of Jordyn Townsend? Dark hair with an attitude?”

  “Yeah, she was here. Flashing her badge around like that would make us talk to her.”

  “What did she want to know?”

  “Everything we knew about Dixon, which wasn’t much. The man didn’t frequent this bar and his daughter skipped town after the funeral. He left her everything, once it clears escrow.”

  That was nice of him, considering she wanted nothing to do with the man. My heart ached for her, though. She hadn’t had the opportunity to make amends, then he’d left her what was probably a lot of money.

  “Townsend is missing.”

  “It happens.” He lifted a glass of beer to his lips.

  “Come on, Ben. Don’t make me dig. Do you know what happened to her?”

  “Can you make your sidekick stop taking notes?” He glowered. “She’s making me nervous.”

  Maryann immediately dropped her pencil.

  Ben resumed his talking. “I don’t know what happened to her, but she did get into a heated argument with someone in a black SUV in the parking lot. I couldn’t see who it was. When they finished their conversation, Townsend got into a navy Chrysler and the SUV sped off.”

  “You couldn’t hear what they were arguing about?” There were a ton of black SUVs in Arkansas. It would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

  “Nope.” He downed the last of the beer in his glass and waved for another. “Don’t judge me, sweetie. This is night time for me.”

  “What do you do for a living, Ben?”

  “I work security at the Savings and Loan.” He leaned his elbows on the table. “Before you ask, nothing happens there at night. All the action is during the day. That Lincoln Burnett has a parade of angry women in and out from what I’ve heard.”

  “Any idea where I should start looking for Townsend?”

  “She headed out of here toward the mountain. There are several abandoned camping cabins up there. My guess is…she’s hiding out. You still got my number in your phone?”

  I nodded.

  “Remember. If you get in a tight spot, you call me. Me and the boys will come to the rescue.”

  “Thank you.” I held out my hand, then changed my mind and hugged him instead. “I wouldn’t mind an escort to those cabins.”

  He cleared his throat, his face reddening above his beard. “Me and two of the boys will lead the way.” He whistled, pointed out two burly, bearded men, and the group of us trooped out of the building.

  I thanked the man guarding my car and once in the Mustang, followed the roar of Harleys up the mountain.

  “That was smart asking them to come with us,” Maryann said, clicking her seatbelt into place. “I feel tons safer.”

  “Are you being sarcastic?”

  “Yep. They could be lu
ring us to death and rape, and not necessarily in that order.”

  “I trust Ben. We’re safer than we’ve been since New Orleans.”

  “Since I trust you, I’ll have to accept your judgment.”

  We turned right onto a poorly graded dirt road, past a sign that read Pleasant Acres Camp site. It wasn’t far before I had to stop the Mustang or bottom out.

  Ben and one of his guys turned around and stopped next to us. “Hop on, ladies. These hogs can go anywhere.”

  Maryann didn’t look nearly as thrilled as I felt. I wasted no time slinging my purse over my shoulder and climbing on behind Ben. Seconds later, we were bouncing away up the mountain.

  Several times, I heard Maryann scream, but since I found it fun, I didn’t glance her way. Instead, I kept my eyes peeled for signs of anyone other than us having traveled that way. I tapped Ben on the shoulder.

  He stopped.

  “Look.” I pointed to the side of the road. Booted footprints showed in the loose dirt. “Do those seem new to you?”

  “I reckon.” He continued on.

  Someone had been that way, and I was willing to bet it was Townsend. But, why hide? She was law enforcement. She could go anywhere she wanted to. Unless…she was afraid. She hadn’t seemed the type when we’d spoke, but even the toughest person had something they were afraid of. My guess is that Townsend was afraid of dying. Tough exterior or not, I’d caught a glint of uneasiness in her eyes when I’d visited her.

  We stopped in a circle of eight rundown log cabins. No one had camped there in a long time, unless you counted kids drinking and smoking pot. A few discarded beer cans and a bong lay scattered next to a ring of rocks.

  “The place is quiet,” Ben said, sliding from the bike. “Too quiet.”

  I agreed. Where birds should have chattered, there was a heavy, eerie silence. I’d experienced it before. The silence of death. “She’s here somewhere.”

  He cut me a sideways glance. “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve experienced this feeling many times. We won’t find her alive.”

  “You’re a creepy gal, aren’t you?” He motioned for his men to spread out and start searching.

  They went one direction, Maryann and I went in the other. I pushed open a rickety door, not expecting to find anything if the layer of dust on the floor was any indication. Still, there might be signs of Townsend having been nearby.