Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Brianna Bates

  “Hey, Missy.”

  For a moment they just looked at each other, neither sure what to say.

  “So, uh, what brings you out here?” Missy asked.

  “Connie called me last night.”

  Missy said nothing. She’d only been outside for a moment, but already she was beginning to sweat. And not just from the humidity.

  Ron hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on his jeans. Missy was pretty tall for a woman, but Ron dwarfed her. The guy must have been six-four or six-five.

  “She said you stopped by to talk to her the other night.”

  “Yeah.”

  Ron just looked at her. She wished she could see his eyes, but the wraparound sunglasses were hiding them from view.

  “What did you two talk about?” Ron asked.

  “Karen.” Missy shrugged. “As it turns out, I didn’t know her that well.”

  Ron nodded and chewed on his bottom lip. “What did she tell you?”

  “A lot,” Missy said, hoping that would be enough to get him off her back. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her.

  “Whatever she told you, it was probably half the truth.”

  “Half?” Missy couldn’t help herself.

  “Yeah.” Ron nodded. “The best lies are half-truths, and that woman is a good liar. You have to be, to manipulate people the way she does.”

  “So you don’t think too highly of her.”

  Ron shook his head. “Alright, enough of the shit. I know who you are, and what you did with the two murders in Grove City. I know you’re going around asking questions now. I gotta buddy on the force so I know about that bitch attorney filing a restraining order against you.”

  Missy folded her arms. She wanted to get away from this man. He was filled with anger, probably his warped way of grieving.

  “I just came to warn you,” he said.

  “Warn me?” Missy instinctively stepped backward.

  He smirked. “Take it easy. I’m not threatening you. I’m here to warn you about Connie. You can’t trust that woman. Now, I don’t think anybody killed poor Karen, I think she did that to herself, but if anybody did kill her, then it was Connie. And it’s just the sort of way she’d do it.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. She’s manipulative and she was madly in love with Karen.” He circled his finger around his ear. “Sick in the head, that one.”

  “You were in love with Karen too,” Missy said, then instantly regretted it.

  “Not madly. Truly. I loved Karen with all my heart. I’d never felt like that about a woman before, and maybe I never will again. I would have done anything for her. But her weight was this noose around her neck, it kept dragging her down, deeper and deeper. When I last spoke to her, she’d all but given up on trying to lose any weight ever again. She had just accepted she was going to be obese forever.”

  “And when did you last talk to her?” Missy really needed to end the conversation. This guy was on edge and she didn’t want to be in the vicinity when he flipped out. But she kept thinking about her friend, Karen.

  “About a month ago.” Ron looked away and brought a finger up under his shades. When he pulled his hand away, his fingertip was wet with tears. “I wanted to help her. I tried to help her. Her weight was holding her back in every single way. She wanted to look for another job but feared that nobody would hire her because she was short and heavyset. She didn’t think anybody could ever love her, so she ended up self-destructing every serious relationship she was in…that was what happened to us. I would have done anything to help her lose that weight. If she had just done that, then she could have started tackling her other problems.”

  “Right.” Missy looked over her shoulder at the store, hoping to see Noreen’s face in one of the windows. No such luck. “Connie told me they dated off and on for almost two years.”

  “Yeah, sure. That was probably more like six months. And Karen dumped her. That was why me and her got together a month ago. Karen told me everything. She felt like Connie had approached her as a friend and then taken advantage of her, knowing Karen wasn’t right in the head and highly susceptible to influence. Karen was seeing a shrink, did Connie tell you that? Yeah, she was seeing a shrink and taking some medication for depression. Eventually she realized she wasn’t gay and that she’d gotten together with Connie because she needed someone and Connie had seen that need in her. Karen felt betrayed. So she reached out to me for help. I told her to steer clear of that woman. I told her everything was going to be okay and that I’d help her because…I still loved her. This all happened a month ago, when we got together over drinks. Karen was just a wreck. She was distraught over her weight but also thinking of quitting the Diet Club. I told her I’d go with her, but that was verboten because I was a guy. So I recommended she give you a call.”

  Missy was having a hard time following the story. Ron was rambling, his comments going off in a million directions. But she got the gist. Karen had been lost, sought him out for help, broken up with Connie, and then had called Missy for support at the Diet Club, knowing she’d have to face her ex-girlfriend there.

  “I see,” Missy said. She didn’t know whether to trust Ron. Or whether to trust Connie. Maybe both of them were lying. But she’d have to sort through the facts later. She couldn’t think it through with this guy looming over her.

  Ron put his hand on her shoulder. “Missy, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry about that. I came here because I know you and Karen were close. She talked about you all the time. When we were engaged, she told me you were going to be her maid of honor.”

  Missy got a little choked up. Karen had never told her that.

  Ron nodded. “She was such a great woman. I did everything I could for her, but ultimately I…”

  The man bowed his head and started crying. Despite her earlier misgivings about him, Missy found herself rubbing his shoulder. It was knotted with muscle.

  “I’m sorry, Ron. I really am. She was wonderful.”

  He was shaking his head. “It’s my fault this happened. She came to me for help and I should have…I should have done more, should have done something else…now she’s dead.”

  “That’s not your fault,” Missy said. “Like you said, this wasn’t murder.”

  He nodded. “Thanks for listening, Missy. I appreciate it. Karen was right. She always went on and on about how good a person you were.”

  “Thanks, Ron.” She looked over her shoulder and saw a few people going into the store, which gave her the perfect excuse. “Now I have to get back to work, unfortunately.”

  Ron offered his hand, and she shook it. His firm, callused hand reminded her of Aaron’s.

  “I’ll see you around.” He started walking away, but turned before he got to his car. “And be careful around her, Miss. If anybody did this to Karen, it was Connie.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  M issy couldn’t get Ron’s words out of her head.

  If anybody did this to her, it was Connie.

  If.

  Big if.

  As she checked out one of their regulars, Missy tried to puzzle out why Ron had come to see her. If she believed his story, Connie called him to talk about Missy and her investigation. From what she could tell, there was no love lost between Connie and Ron which meant it was odd of her to call him.

  “Thanks, Miss. Sorry about your friend.”

  She smiled absently and said goodbye as the man left the store, ten paperbacks in his usual plastic grocery bag.

  Connie didn’t like Ron. Ron didn’t like Connie. So why would Connie call him? Missy was inclined to think the phone call never happened, that Ron had made it up, except how would he have known she’d been to see Connie?

  So Connie had called Ron, whom she didn’t like, to talk about Missy, whom she knew was looking into Karen’s death.

  Missy’s heart skipped a beat.

  The only reason Connie would call Ron was because she was nervous about Missy asking
questions. And if she was nervous about Missy asking questions…

  “Missy, you okay?” Noreen’s voice snapped her out of her mental gymnastics.

  “Yeah…hey, can you cover for a few minutes? I have to make a call.”

  Noreen looked around at the empty store. “Gee, I don’t know.”

  Missy smiled. “Thanks.”

  Outside it was hot and humid, not a cloud in the sky. Missy scrolled through her contacts to find the one she was looking for. Mrs. Wise had given Missy her number the other night after the two women had agreed to get together.

  “Hello?”

  “Mrs. Wise? It’s Missy.”

  “Oh, Missy.” The woman’s voice softened. “It’s nice to hear from you.”

  “Yes, I wanted to call right away but then I figured you’d want a little time, but then…there just didn’t seem to be a right time to call.”

  “I’m glad you called. Would you like to get together?”

  “I would.” Missy was thinking about blowing Noreen off tonight. She had to talk to Mrs. Wise. If she knew anything about Connie, it might help Missy figure out once and for all whether Karen was murdered or not.

  But she also didn’t want to wait till later tonight. She had to see if Mrs. Wise knew anything now. Of course, this was a delicate conversation. Missy had to be careful. She had no idea if Mrs. Wise knew that Karen was questioning her sexuality. Though it was nothing to be ashamed of, Missy didn’t want to drop that bomb on Mrs. Wise a mere few days after she’d lost her only child.

  “Are you okay, Missy?”

  Missy took a deep breath. “Yes. Listen, I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Okay.”

  “I met Connie, Karen’s friend. Did you ever meet her?”

  There was a long silence that told Missy everything she needed to know. “Yes.”

  “They argued that night,” Missy said. “I couldn’t hear what they were fighting about, but—”

  “Missy, I’m sorry but I was right in the middle of something.”

  “Oh?” Missy hadn’t gotten that impression when the woman answered.

  “Yes, I…I’ll have to call you back later.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Mrs. Wise had grown suddenly distant and sounded distracted. Maybe Missy had misread her earlier silence? Maybe Mrs. Wise didn’t know about Karen and Connie.

  “I’ll call you la—”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wise. I didn’t mean to bring anything up that upset you.”

  Mrs. Wise fake-laughed. “Oh no, dear. I’m really just in the middle of something. Can I talk to you later?”

  The last thing Missy wanted to do now was hang-up. At the mention of Connie, Mrs. Wise had gone cold on her.

  “Sure. You can call me on this number any—”

  Mrs. Wise hung up.

  ***

  Missy spent the rest of the workday going through the motions, while Noreen brought up their planned evening at Hank’s every fifteen minutes on the dot. Missy was happy for her friend. Noreen sounded like she was head-over-heels even though she hardly knew the guy.

  Since Missy had opened, she got to quit at six, leaving Noreen to close up shop. She promised to meet her friend at Hank’s in a couple hours. Noreen also tried to get her promise to wear her low-rider jeans, the ones that tended to slide down her hips way too far when she sat down. Missy didn’t make that promise.

  When she got in her truck, Missy’s cell phone rang. It was somebody calling from the Grove City Police Department, had to be Tyler.

  “Hey, Tyler.”

  “Hello, Melissa.” He hesitated for a beat. “I didn’t expect you to leave last night.”

  “Well, you were on the phone with your wife.”

  As much as it pained her to use the phrase your wife, she still said it anyway.

  “It’s complicated,” he said. She hated when he used that phrase. It made her skin crawl. “We’re…well, we’re not really together right now. She went back home.”

  Despite her solemn pledge to forget about him, Missy found her breath getting short. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Her mother is in bad shape,” Tyler explained. “They might have to move her into a nursing home, and her brother is kind of a deadbeat so she has no one to help her…it’s a long story, forget about it.”

  Missy didn’t want to get her hopes up. “Tyler, I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to talk while you and your wife are still working things out.”

  “Melissa…”

  She nodded, knowing she was doing the right thing. “There’s still too much between us, at least from my side of things. I don’t want to interfere with whatever’s going on between you and Jill. I’m not that kind of woman.”

  It felt good to say that. It also hurt.

  “Melissa…”

  She waited for him to say more, but he didn’t.

  “Take care of yourself, Tyler.”

  “Melissa, wait—I have information for you.”

  “What?”

  “Ron’s address. Are you ready?”

  She’d forgotten she’d asked for it. She was about to tell him, no thanks, but realized she might need to go see Ron if she wanted to get more information on Connie. He read off the address and she wrote it down.

  “Thanks, Tyler.”

  “Hold on, there’s more. I got a call from Paul Johnson.”

  Missy ughed. “So you heard about the restraining order too?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Abella’s just trying to throw her weight around. But I was talking to him and he told me the coroner figured out the tape worm had entered Karen’s system about a month ago.”

  Right around the time Karen had broken up with Connie.

  “I don’t know if that helps you,” Tyler said. “But I thought I’d pass it along.”

  She was really touched he’d shared that information because she knew how much he didn’t think she should be investigating this death.

  “Thanks, Tyler.”

  “Are you going to talk to this guy, Ron Moore?”

  Missy didn’t feel like filling him in on all the details. “Maybe.”

  “If you do, let me know before you go over there, okay?”

  “Why?”

  “He’s a mixed martial artist.”

  Missy blew a sigh of relief. She’d been right to be nervous around the guy. “Okay, I promise to give you a call if I’m going over there.”

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”

  “Alright, Tyler, I have to get going.”

  “Okay. Bye, Mel—”

  But she’d already hung up.

  ***

  Missy found a decent outfit. It looked good but was a little too tight, the typical tradeoff. She worked her way into her capris and checked herself in the full-body mirror on the back of her bedroom door. Spanx would have helped (they always did!) but she wasn’t in the mood for them, plus it was sweaty-hot outside and the tight-fitting material didn’t actually breathe.

  Hank’s was a local bar, family owned and operated since it’d opened fifty some years ago. They were known in the county, if not the state, for their wings. They ran specials on the wings on Thursday nights, so it was always packed.

  Tonight was no different. Missy had to create a parking space in the far corner of the lot under an old sycamore tree. The engine of the truck sputtered to a stop and she got out. It was eight-thirty but still humid, and she was glad she’d gone with a loose-fitting t-shirt and capris.

  The deck attached to the side of the building was packed. One of the cooks was outside working two different grills as smoke poured out. Missy knew most of the people and said hello as she went in.

  The interior was at least fifteen degrees warmer than outside. People were crammed in. Tables that were supposed to seat four had five or six people.

  “Missy!”

  She picked Noreen out from the crowd at the far end of the bar. Her friend was in the middle of a group of guys. Missy worked her
way over, saying hi to the people she knew. It took her thirty seconds just to cross the overcrowded bar.

  Noreen peeled away from the group and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, girl!”

  Missy smiled at the men. She didn’t recognize any of them, but she was pretty sure one of them actually checked her out. Go her.

  “This is Carter.” Noreen steered her toward a tall drink of water with blue eyes and a crew cut, holding her spot at the bar. “Carter, this is the coolest chick—other than me—in the whole world, Missy. She also happens to be my best friend.”

  “Hey, Missy.” He offered his hand. His eyes locked onto hers. Carter was almost too good-looking, if there was such a thing. She shook his hand. It was very smooth.

  “Carter is an actor,” Noreen said.

  “Very cool,” Missy said. “I work with Noreen.”

  “She told me,” he said, putting an arm around Noreen’s shoulder. “What are you drinking?”

  Missy was normally a wine-girl, but you didn’t order wine at Hank’s. “Lager?”

  He smiled. Normally with the bar this crowded, it took a solid two minutes to wave one of the three bartenders down. Carter was no mere mortal. He leaned in as Astrid was hurrying by and practically knocked her over with his nod.

  “Lager for the lady,” he said. “Thanks.”

  Astrid stopped everything she was doing. It was like Carter had flipped a switch on her somewhere. She immediately got Missy a lager and the ice cold bottle was in her hands inside of a minute.

  Remarkable.

  “Thank you,” Missy said.

  He stuck his own bottle up and they clinked. “I just want you to know, Noreen does not need a wing girl. She’s awesome enough.”

  Noreen actually blushed. Missy couldn’t remember the last time a man had made her blush.

  “She’s even more awesome than you know, since you don’t know her that well.”

  Carter tilted his head to the side and held his bottle out. “Touchee.”

  Missy sipped her lager. It tasted good cold. She’d have to drink it quickly though. Hank’s was dripping with sweat.