Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Brianna Bates

  Missy nodded.

  He moved out of her way and Missy stepped around the corner, careful not to step on any of the spilled photographs.

  At first, it took her a moment to make sense of what she saw.

  Olivia was sprawled on the linoleum floor. Her blond hair spiraled around her head, which was pointed at Missy. She wore khaki shorts and a long-sleeved grey t-shirt that was darkened…with blood. Missy had to cover her mouth as the nausea bubbled up inside her. Some blood had spilled on the floor around Olivia as well.

  Missy’s knees felt weak.

  “Missy, you okay?”

  I’m fine. She was pretty sure she’d said the words, but Vinnie put his hand on her back like she was going to fall. She wasn’t going to fall. Her vision was dimming, but she wasn’t going to fall…

  Chapter Five

  M issy?”

  The voice sounded like it was coming from down a long hallway. It echoed vaguely in her ears.

  “Missy?”

  Missy opened her eyes and her vision slowly came back to her. She looked up into the brown eyes and ruggedly handsome face staring down at her.

  “Missy?”

  “I’m okay.” She tried to sit up and moved way too quickly. Vinnie instinctively shot a hand out. Had he just grazed her boob? She was too dazed to tell.

  “Take it easy,” Vinnie said.

  “What happened?” Missy asked. She felt something strong and firm against her back. She realized it was his other hand. She liked how it felt there.

  “You passed out,” Vinnie said. “But I caught you.”

  That sounded nice…until she remembered why she was in this hallway and why she’d fainted. Olivia Oakley was dead, about twenty feet away.

  “It’s okay,” Vinnie said as she began to cry.

  Hot anger filled her. Why had Vinnie let her see Olivia? Tyler would never have done that. He should have known—

  She shook her head. She couldn’t blame Vinnie for this. He’d allowed her to make up her own mind. But why had Vinnie let her see Olivia’s body and nobody else?

  Even though she was still dizzy, Missy got up and moved away from Vinnie. The young cop stayed close, concern filling his eyes.

  It took Missy a moment to gather her thoughts. “What happened?”

  Vinnie didn’t take his eyes off her. She realized he was reading her body language and gauging her reactions. That was why he’d let her see Olivia. He wanted to see how she’d react.

  “We think it was a knife,” Vinnie said.

  “Oh God.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Missy didn’t like this at all. He’d pretended to be her friend and let her help the police, when really he was just testing her to see her reaction.

  When anger filled her, her dizziness went away. “I’m fine.”

  “Missy, go slow,” he said after she’d turned and started walking.

  “I said I’m fine.” She kept walking.

  “You just had a nasty spill,” Vinnie said.

  She couldn’t help it. Missy spun around and looked him dead in the eye. “Was that the reaction you were expecting?”

  Vinnie said nothing for a moment. “I thought you could help is all.”

  “Yeah, right.” Missy wanted to walk away. She was steaming. But part of her liked the way Vinnie Carmine was looking at her. His expression was an odd mixture of concern and…attraction? His steady eyes roved down and back up again. It was definitely a check-out.

  “Please don’t leave,” Vinnie said. “I’d like to ask you some questions when we’re done here.”

  “Sure, but FYI,” she said. “I just got here a few minutes ago, so I couldn’t have killed Olivia. Nor would I have wanted to.”

  Vinnie hadn’t known that, but he didn’t miss a beat. “You know all these women really well, I’ll bet. And you’ve solved a few mysteries, Missy. I’d really like to get your opinion.”

  Missy couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. After she’d just called him out on his true motivation for letting her see the body, he was doing it again, not more than a minute later.

  “Really? You want my opinion?”

  He stepped toward her, and she couldn’t help but feel excited by the way he looked at her.

  “I absolutely do.”

  They were five feet apart, but it seemed like it was no more than five inches. Missy felt the butterflies in her stomach. It had been a long time since any man had looked at her like this. She’d almost forgotten what it was like.

  “Tyler would never have let me see the body,” Missy said.

  He smirked. “I’m not Tyler.”

  She almost gasped. Did he know about her history with Tyler, and was he trying to tell her something?

  “But he’s your boss.”

  “And he’s a good boss. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

  Missy’s head was spinning. They were talking about her old boyfriend—okay, her first love, the man she still had some feelings for—while this younger man was busy checking her out. Not to mention her friend Olivia was lying dead in the hallway up ahead…

  The tears were forming. Missy tried to collect herself.

  “Who found Olivia?” she asked.

  Vinnie nodded, as if her question confirmed something for him. “See? What did I tell you?”

  “What?” She didn’t know what he meant.

  “You think like a detective. That’s the first question we always ask.”

  She was both uncomfortable with his praise and a little proud. “That’s the first thing anybody would ask.”

  “Don’t be modest,” Vinnie said. “You have good instincts.”

  Missy looked down. She couldn’t hold the man’s stare. “I read a lot of mystery novels.”

  “Okay.” He held up his palms. “You can’t take a compliment. Tyler did warn me about that.”

  They had talked about her? Now she was even more confused by how she was feeling. She kept thinking about Tyler, but then seeing the man in front of her and—

  “You didn’t actually answer the question,” Missy said.

  “So you do want to help.”

  It was annoying how he kept turning everything around on her. “Of course I do. Olivia was my friend.”

  “Alison Breckmyer.”

  Missy kept her expression neutral and filed that away.

  “Where’s Tyler?”

  His face grew serious. “That’s a personal matter, so I can’t share.”

  Missy knew it had something to do with his wife, or ex-wife, whatever she was. Tyler’s parents were still in town and like her, he was an only child.

  “I’ll be outside.”

  ***

  Missy walked through the gym, again taking a quick survey of everything on the folding tables. Nothing jumped out at her as odd or out of place or evidence. The women, however, were filing back inside now. They left wet footprints near the entrance. It must have started to rain.

  Noreen and Tonya were alone in the corner, talking in hushed tones. The rest of the women looked dazed as they came in. The two policemen from earlier were keeping them by the door for now.

  Missy didn’t know where to begin. She knew very little: Olivia was dead, the murder weapon was a knife, and she quickly counted the rest of the people here and discovered there were twenty-seven possible suspects. Actually, twenty-nine. She hadn’t counted Tonya or Noreen but she should have. They might have killed Olivia before they’d come to get her.

  Okay. Not Noreen. So twenty-eight people. She didn’t know Tonya well enough to automatically dismiss her out of hand.

  Missy knew a lot about Olivia, having babysat her and having kept in touch over the years. She was short, pretty, naturally blond, and very likable. Though she’d only been around Olivia in this setting and had seen her a few times at the local watering hole, Missy had never seen her exchange words with anybody. In her mind, Missy went over the last few years of seeing Olivia and talking to her. Olivia had met her fiancé a coupl
e years back and from what she knew they’d never hit a rough patch. Fast-forward and they were engaged. Missy didn’t know Roger very well, but having met him, she couldn’t see him being a killer.

  Vinnie was wrong. She didn’t have good instincts. She actually had no instincts right now, having no idea where to start. As always, she wondered how she’d solved the last three murders. Of course, looking back at them now, she hadn’t really solved the last one. The killer had come forward only because he thought she suspected him. And the investigation before that had been a little bit of luck…and the one before that had been more than a little bit of luck.

  Was that the best she could hope for? Lucking her way into identifying her friend’s killer?

  Missy scanned the crowd of women—no, suspects—again. Looking them over, nobody stood out. The women squabbled from time-to-time, often descending into petty fighting, but murder seemed way outside the realm of possibility.

  Don’t assume, she told herself. She had assumed on the last case and it had almost gotten her killed. She needed to treat everyone in here as a suspect and also needed to think beyond that. The school was frequently open, in fact, it was probably unlocked more than it was locked. When it wasn’t the scrapbooking meeting, the gym was opened for local youth sports. Later this afternoon, in fact, the volleyball league was coming through.

  Which was all a long-winded way of saying that someone could have come into the building, murdered Olivia, and left.

  Fat lot of good that did her, though. Missy was already overwhelmed thinking there were twenty-eight suspects. She didn’t think she could handle more.

  With a sigh, her eyes fell on Alison Breckmyer. Her instinct had been to ask who discovered Olivia. In fact, it was a strange place for Alison to happen upon a body. There was no reason to walk that far and make the left into a different hallway. The only reason the women went into the hallway was to use the bathroom or water fountain, and both were well before that junction.

  Missy smiled as she approached Alison. It was not a little weird that this would be the second time Missy felt compelled to ask this woman questions.

  Alison saw it coming a mile away. “Here we go again.”

  Missy tried to play it off. “No, no, I was just wondering what you saw.”

  Alison gave her a disbelieving look. “Okay, Missy, we’ll play this little game. Again.”

  Missy wanted to assure Alison she wasn’t interrogating her, but Missy had never been a good liar. Which generally speaking was a good thing, but in moments like these it was a hindrance.

  Alison nodded toward the door that led to the hallway. “I went for a walk. While I was out there, I got a call. When I talk on the phone I usually pace, I can’t stay still, it’s just a habit. While I was walking, I saw something on the floor right where the two hallways intersected. I couldn’t tell what it was from where I stood, it just looked like some pictures. I assumed some kids had dropped them and the janitor hadn’t gotten around to cleaning up yet.”

  Missy nodded. The story was plausible enough.

  Alison continued. “By the time my call was over, I’d forgotten about the pictures but they caught my eye as I was turning to leave. Curiosity got the better of me. I went to check them out and found Olivia there. At first I couldn’t believe what I was even looking at.”

  Missy nodded again. She’d experienced the same unreal sensation, like the image of Olivia on the floor was too horrible to comprehend immediately.

  “Now is that all?” Alison asked. “Because I’ve already shared this with the police.”

  “Alison, I was just asking.”

  “Right.” Alison shook her head. “Missy, you are one bad liar.”

  Missy scrambled to come up with an answer but drew a blank. She finally threw up her hands. “You caught me.”

  Alison did a double-take. “Honesty? Wow, I respect that.”

  Missy shrugged. “It’s the best policy.”

  Alison was looking at her, a surprised expression on her face like she’d misjudged Missy before.

  Missy said, “You didn’t hear anything? Or see anything?”

  Alison shook her head no. “I was on the phone for a little bit, so it must have happened at least ten minutes or so before I stepped into the hallway.”

  “Who were you talking to?”

  Alison rolled her eyes. “Alright, enough of this Missy. I’m done answering your questions. I’ve already talked to the police.”

  “But did they ask you that?”

  Alison walked away and headed outside into the drizzling rain. Missy felt bad for ticking off Alison with her questions, but at least talking to the other woman had given her an idea.

  Olivia had been sitting with the Little Old Ladies today, the same women who always came to the used bookstore Missy worked at once a week, always at the same time. There were only three of them today: Marguerite, Florence, and Josephine. They all had white hair and big, thick glasses. Sometimes it was difficult to tell them apart, even though they weren’t related.

  “Good morning, ladies,” Missy said as she approached them. They’d been deep in hushed conversation by a folding table.

  “Well if it ain’t Ms. Nancy Drew herself,” Marguerite said.

  “Missy, have you put on weight?” Florence asked.

  Normally, Missy would have died of embarrassment at a comment like that. But she knew it was harmless coming from the Little Old Ladies. And besides, Josephine, herself a big woman, would no doubt jump to her defense.

  As if on cue, Josephine shook her head and tutted. “Flo, Missy looks like she’s lost weight. Just look at those hips. I can swear they’re smaller.” She looked up at Missy with a twinkle in her eye. “But don’t lose too much, dear. Men like to have something to hold onto, when they’re…you know.”

  No matter how often she spoke to them, Missy was always surprised by how raunchy these women—all in their seventies—could be. With a smile on her face, she shook her head and pretended like she hadn’t heard a thing.

  “You were sitting with Olivia this morning?” Missy asked.

  “Oh yes, poor sweet thing,” Marguerite said. “Do you know what happened?”

  Of course. Missy should have known they’d immediately ping her for something they could turn into gossip. These three women collectively probably knew more about the town than anybody else, with the exception of Tyler Brock.

  “I can’t talk about it,” Missy said. “The detective asked me not to share.”

  “Vincent Carmine?” Florence said. “He’s easy on the eyes, isn’t he?”

  Josephine once again shook her head. “Now, Flo, Missy only has eyes for Tyler Brock. Everybody knows that.”

  This time Missy couldn’t act like she hadn’t heard what was said. All three women watched her intently, trying to gauge her reaction.

  “Tyler and I dated in high school,” she said. “And he’s a married man.”

  “Is he?” Florence asked. “I thought they were divorced.”

  “I heard they were still together,” Josephine said.

  Of course these gossip extraordinaires couldn’t confirm the one thing that mattered to Missy, Tyler’s marital status.

  “There’s nothing between me and Tyler,” Missy said.

  “Divorced or not,” Josephine said, as if she hadn’t heard Missy, “that relationship is over so Tyler is fair game for any pretty woman who’s interested.”

  Again all six eyes swiveled over to Missy.

  “Like I said, there’s nothing between me and Tyler,” Missy said.

  “She’s over him,” Josephine said. “She should go after the younger man, Vinnie. I’ll bet that boy has got a lot of stamina.”

  The two other women laughed, but Missy wanted to die of embarrassment. The worst part? She had imagined what Vinnie would be like. But they were getting off topic.

  “More importantly,” Missy said, thinking of her dead friend. “Olivia was just murdered.”

  The Little Old Lad
ies stopped laughing and immediately put on sad faces. Missy wondered if they were all acting.

  “She was sitting with you?”

  “Yes,” Josephine said. “We’d been working for an hour when she took a call.”

  “From who?” Missy asked.

  “It wasn’t a call. It was a text.” Florence looked at Missy apologetically. “Don’t listen to this one, she’s not up to date with technology. She thinks microwaves are newfangled.”

  Josephine waved her hand in Florence’s general direction. “Call, text, she got something on that phone. And then she got up.”

  “The call, or the text,” Missy said. “Do you know who it was from?”

  All three women shook their heads.

  “Do you remember when this was?” Missy asked.

  Each one of them gave a different time, of course. The scrapbooking had begun at eight. Most of the women were set up by eight-thirty. Marguerite thought Olivia had excused herself at eight-forty-five, while Florence thought nine, while Josephine thought nine-thirty. They then proceeded to argue about who was right. After a full minute of debate, the Little Old Ladies got personal, impugning one another’s memory.

  Missy knew she wouldn’t get anywhere else so she thanked them and left.

  Chapter Six

  O ne-by-one the police took statements. Vinnie and the two patrolmen split the women roughly into threes. Missy had already spoken to Vinnie but one of the other cops told her not to leave till Vinnie had seen her.

  Tonya and Noreen were still huddled together. Her best friend hadn’t so much as looked at her after their earlier tiff. Missy hated leaving things like that with Noreen, and as much as she didn’t want to talk to Tonya also, she still decided to go over and talk to Noreen.

  With each step, she dreaded the conversation more and more. Earlier Noreen had dismissed her out of hand. She likely wasn’t inclined to listen to her now. And Tonya would make things unpleasant. The woman was expert at getting her digs in subtly. Missy almost had to respect her for that, if she wasn’t such a B.

  “Hey,” Missy said when she stepped next to Noreen. “I can’t believe what’s happened. It’s just awful.”