"That is a mystery,” Heather said. “Who is Janae going to kiss at midnight?”
“Well,” Chief Chet said, calming down. “If that’s the only mystery we have on our hands, we should be fine.”
Heather’s smile faltered for a moment, even as the police chief was feeling better. Why did she suddenly have a feeling that something bad was going to happen?
Minutes to Midnight
Heather dismissed her worries from earlier. After a wonderful night of dancing with her caffeinated husband, she was in good spirits. Amy and Jamie had also been spinning around the dance floor.
Hope had gained a camera to take pictures of the party and was trying to take a picture of a reluctant Heather and Ryan.
Amy saved her by grabbing her friend’s hand and leading her away. “Come on. It’s almost midnight. Let’s touch up our lipstick before the big moment.”
“Thanks for saving me,” Heather said, as they entered the ladies’ room. She was reasonably certain that no photos would be taken of her there.
“I guess everyone had the same fake idea for coming here,” Amy said.
There were a few other women at the mirror fixing their makeup. The two women from the coat check were there.
“I just meant that I felt silly having to go to the coat check to get my lipstick,” Kelly said.
“It beats getting robbed,” Mrs. Shellingsworth said. “Kelly, darling, can you do me a favor? Would you bring my purse to the coat check when you bring yours? I need to find B.W.”
“Okay,” Kelly agreed.
Mrs. Shellingsworth sprayed an excess of perfume in the air and walked through it. She handed her purse to Kelly and left.
Kelly opened her purse when a young woman with dark hair and a dark expression entered the room. She glared at Kelly the whole time she washed her hands.
“Is something wrong?” Kelly asked.
“Your lipstick is smudged,” the woman retorted before leaving.
"It's a shame Hope didn't follow us," Amy muttered. "She might have found a story after all. Catfight by the sink."
Kelly was frowning, but then stopped herself. She applied a layer of her pink lipstick to her lips. Heather and Amy moved closer to the mirror. They wanted to cheer the young woman up and couldn’t help complimenting her.
“That’s a pretty shade,” Amy said, as she reapplied her own red lipstick.
“It matches the dress perfectly,” Heather agreed.
“Thank you,” Kelly said. "I had it made especially so it would match. I wanted tonight to be perfect."
“Good luck,” Amy said.
“To you too,” Kelly said. “I hope everyone can be as in love someday as I feel right now. That would make the whole world a better place.”
Heather and Amy smiled as she left.
“I remember feeling that giddy when Ryan and I started dating,” Heather said.
“Yeah. Same with Jamie,” Amy said. “Kinda makes you want to kiss them, doesn’t it?”
“We’ll have the perfect excuse in just a minute,” Heather said with a grin.
The exited the ladies’ room and peeked around the corner to make sure that Hope was distracted. She was talking to a wealthy looking man who was wearing a monocle and looked as unimpressed with being interviewed as they had been.
“Do people still wear monocles these days?” Amy asked. “I can’t even say – that’s so last year.”
“Come on. We better find Ryan and Jamie,” Heather said.
The music was building, indicating that it was approaching midnight. They found their partners who had positioned themselves in the perfect spot to see how some other midnight kisses would play out.
Leila was looking like she wished she could disappear as Wally the Wonderful was showing her card tricks. Unfortunately, he kept showing his cards and so she could see how he was accomplishing each trick.
It looked as if Eva was being firm about her no kisses rule. She was keeping a distance from Vincent as the countdown began. Vincent was looking a bit blue but was being respectful.
Janae was looking puzzled as she watched Fire Frank and Detective Peters. The two men were trying to keep the other from getting too close to her and asking her for the countdown kiss. However, to her, it looked like both men would rather elbow each other than approach her. She shrugged.
The countdown to the New Year began. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.
Heather found herself in Ryan’s arms. They joined the others in the countdown.
“Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!”
Heather kissed her husband as confetti rained down on the parts of the crowd. Then, she smiled at her bestie.
They all turned to see who Janae had chosen to kiss and were surprised by the results. It appeared that because Peters and Fire Frank had seemed busy at the time, she had looked around for another fella to give a kiss to. She had selected the older gentleman who was looking sad and had kissed Vincent.
He pinched her cheek and told her she was a sweet girl. Then, he checked to make sure that Eva wasn’t upset, but Eva looked very calm.
Peters and Fire Frank were upset. They were about to start insulting each other, and Amy was struggling to keep her laughing in check.
However, before anything else could happen, they heard something that captured their collective attention. It was an ear-piercing scream.
New Year’s Victim
Heather and Ryan rushed to the source of the screaming, followed by Amy and Jamie. They hurried into the midst of the crowd. A man was lying on the ground while others were looking horrified around him.
Kelly, the young woman in the pink dress, was trying to rush away from the others.
“Stop her,” a dignified older man yelled.
Hope Penwell had made her way to the group after the scream and restrained the young woman. Kelly was saying something but was too upset to make sense. She kept screaming and crying.
“What’s going on?” Hope asked. “Why am I stopping her? What happened? Can I have the exclusive?”
"She did something to my son," the man said. "Someone restrain her, and someone else call an ambulance."
“I’ll call for help,” Jamie said, rushing off.
“There might be someone closer,” Heather said. “Is Emmitt Woolsey still around? Fire Frank’s friend. He was an EMT.”
“I’ll look for him,” Amy said. “You and Ryan handle what’s going on here.”
Heather and Ryan moved closer.
“Please calm down, everyone,” Ryan said.
“And give this man some space,” Heather said.
“Let me go,” Kelly said, freeing herself from Hope. “I need my purse.”
Heather knelt down beside the man on the floor. She recognized him as Kelly's date who had brought her the champagne before. He wasn't moving anymore.
“What do you need from your purse?” the man asked. “Money? Is that the only reason you were seeing my son? What did you do to him?”
“It looks like an allergy attack,” Kelly said. “I have his EpiPen in the safe.”
Hope allowed her to run off.
“Wait. Don’t let her go,” the man said. “We don’t know what she did.”
Chief Chet came over to the group, trying to be jovial. “What’s going on? Why isn’t the party still happening?”
“My son is very sick.”
“I’m sure he’ll be all right, Mr. Shellingsworth,” Chief Chet said, before seeing the body. He looked at Heather who shook her head.
Ryan saw the exchange and took charge. He made the guests clear the area, without leaving the premises. Detective Peters stopped sparring with Fire Frank to keep the guests in line. Fire Frank became an ally to help keep the peace.
Hope didn't want to be far from the story but was told to keep a distance. She took pictures from afar.
“What’s taking so long?” Mr. Shellingsworth asked. “My son needs help.”
Chief Chet knelt down to check Heathe
r’s findings. He looked miserable as he stood up and faced the father.
“Mr. Shellingsworth, I am so sorry. He’s passed on.”
Mr. Shellingsworth fell into a chair, looking in shock. “But… how could this happen?”
“His face is swollen,” Heather said. “You’ll need a medical professional to confirm it, but it looks like Anaphylaxis to me.”
“A severe allergy attack?” Chief Chet asked. “How? Was there a problem with the food?”
Heather gulped. “We were very careful with the donuts. I don’t know about the other food.”
“It wasn’t the food,” Mr. Shellingsworth said. “It was that girl.”
“That’s a serious accusation,” Ryan said.
“And I am deadly serious,” Mr. Shellingsworth said. “I know the food was fine because I was sampling from it all night. My allergy isn’t as severe as my poor son’s. But I would have had a reaction if I had tasted peanuts. He was acting fine until midnight.”
“What happened then?” Heather asked.
“I saw him kiss that young woman,” Mr. Shellingsworth said with disdain. “They had been dating. I never thought she was good enough for my son, but I didn’t paint her to be a murderess. Nevertheless, I saw his symptoms begin after their kiss. And then it all happened rapidly. She began screaming, and he fell to the floor."
“You were watching their kiss at midnight?” Heather asked. “Why?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure where my wife had gotten off to,” he said. “And I just wanted to keep an eye on my son. I should have kept a closer one.”
Kelly ran back to them with her purse and the EpiPen. She fell to her knees next to Ben Shellingsworth.
“I’m afraid it’s too late,” Heather said.
“No,” Kelly said, crying. “No. How could this happen?”
“A pretty act you’re putting on,” Mr. Shellingsworth said. “But Ben was fine until your kiss of death.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked. “How could my kiss have killed him?”
“That’s what these policemen will have to find out,” Mr. Shellingsworth said.
Kelly got to her feet. “I didn’t kill Ben. I loved him. This must have been some sort of terrible accident.”
“The only accident was him getting involved with someone like you,” Mr. Shellingsworth sneered.
"I don't know how you could be related to someone amazing like Ben," Kelly said. "He was a million times a better than you."
Emmitt rushed onto the scene, followed by Amy.
“I found him,” Amy said. “And Jamie’s waiting to direct the ambulance. Tell me we’re not too late.”
“I’m afraid we are,” Emmitt said. He shook his head and said that he would update the ambulance.
"B.W., what's going on?" Mrs. Shellingsworth asked, joining her husband.
"Meg," he said, holding her hand. "Ben is dead."
“What?” she asked. “How?”
“He was murdered,” Mr. Shellingsworth said, pointing a finger at Kelly. “By her.”
“Hey, let’s not point any fingers,” Amy said.
“Officer, arrest that woman,” Mr. Shellingsworth demanded.
“We are certainly going to investigate what happened,” Ryan said. “We will get to the bottom of what happened. However, we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.”
“No,” Chief Chet said, decisively. “He’s right. He was a witness to what happened.”
“Oh, B.W., you watched it?” Mrs. Shellingsworth said, supporting her husband.
“We should arrest her,” Chief Chet said.
“Chief?” Ryan asked.
“You heard me,” Chief Chet said.
Ryan nodded and began reading Kelly her rights, arresting her on suspicion of murder. She ignored her right to remain silent by saying, “This can’t be happening. This is a bad dream.”
Ryan led her away.
Heather and Amy gathered close together. This was not how they expected their evening to go.
“What a way to start the new year,” Amy grumbled.
The Station
After such a hectic and late night, Heather was exhausted in the morning. She made sure that Lilly and Nicolas had a good breakfast and heard all about the fun they had with Nina. (Dave and crew had only conned her out of a few donuts.) Then, Heather had to leave the kids with Eva and Leila so that she could go to the police station. Leila joked that she had learned some magic tricks the night before. Heather smiled, but she wasn’t feeling happy about what had happened.
“This year isn’t starting off on the right foot,” Amy said as she met her bestie. “I wanted to sleep in until noon and lounge today, not listen to murder confessions.”
“I don’t think we’re going to hear a confession,” Heather said.
They entered the station and saw Ryan and Peters. They were both looking downbeat and tired.
“I didn’t expect to see you,” Ryan said, starting to smile.
“I was kneeling next to the victim’s body last night,” Heather said. “I’m a part of this investigation. Even if you think you’ve already caught your killer.”
“Chief Chet seems to think so,” Ryan said.
“There is some compelling evidence,” Peters said. “It looks like this case will be easy to see justice served.”
He didn’t look happy though.
“I don’t think last night went the way any of us would have liked,” Heather commented.
"I know. And the murder is terrible," Peters said. "But I also saw the girl of my dreams kissing a senior citizen because I was quarreling with Fire Frank."
"I'm sure Fire Frank is hot with anger over it too,” Amy teased.
Heather presented her friends with some donuts. “I had extra Champagne Cream Donuts because the party was cut so abruptly short.”
Peters and Ryan accepted them gratefully.
“And you’re sure this was murder?” Heather asked.
“Yes,” Ryan said after he finished chewing. “Because—“
“Oh no,” Chief Chet said, back to his comfortable clothes but still looking stressed. “After the murder at our big soiree last night, I’m sure these donuts are ruined for me.”
He took one anyway and promptly ate it. When he selected a second one, Heather felt certain that the donuts weren’t ruined in his mind.
“It’s terrible business. Just terrible,” Chief Chet said as he licked the frosting from his fingers.
“And we’re sure it was murder and not an accident?” Heather asked.
“It was no accident,” Peters said. “We found the murder weapon.”
“Was it something that set off his allergic reaction?” Heather asked.
“Did Kelly eat peanuts on purpose?” Amy asked.
“Worse,” Ryan said. “And this is how we know it was premeditated. Her lipstick was infused with concentrated peanut oil. It caused his anaphylaxis.”
"Murder makeup?" Amy asked. “That’s a new one.”
“And something I don’t care to see again,” Chief Chet said. “But it was just like Mr. Shellingsworth said. When she kissed him, she killed him.”
"A deadly kiss," Amy said with a dramatic shudder.
“And because it was her lipstick you’re sure it was her,” Heather said.
"You're not?" Chief Chet asked. "Heather, you're normally so on top of things. Everything about the case says she did it."
"But why would she kill him?" Heather asked. "She looked so in love last night, and was devastated when he died.”
"If I had a nickel for every time a killer pretended to be upset that someone was murdered, I could retire to a tropical island," Chief Chet said. "Or, well, to a different tropical island."
"I'm not saying that she isn’t guilty,” Heather said. “But I don’t want us to be hasty in our investigation just because a rich citizen here thinks that she did it.”
“Money has nothing to do with this,” the chief said.
However, when Mr. She
llingsworth came through the door a few minutes later, Chief Chet was extremely obliging.
“Mr. Shellingsworth, please come in and have a seat. Do they look comfortable enough? My office chair is pretty nice. It lets you lean back.”
“I prefer to stand,” he responded. “I came to make sure that you are taking care of my son’s case properly.”
“Of course, we are,” Chief Chet said. “I have my finest officers working on it. And look, I even have private investigators here in case we need more manpower. Or people-power.”
Heather gave a nod.
"Not that we believe it is really necessary," Chief Chet said. "But I want to show you that we are taking this seriously. We have a suspect in custody. The evidence is building against her. You'll be a witness, of course. The courts are closed today for the holiday, but tomorrow we're moving forward. We're going to throw the book at her."
“I want the whole library thrown at her,” Mr. Shellingsworth said. “She took my only son away from me.”
"Yes," Chief Chet agreed. “The whole library.”
Mr. Shellingsworth left, looking both angry and deflated. Chief Chet walked him to the door and then returned to the group.
“Money has nothing to do with anything?” Amy asked.
“She’s guilty,” Chief Chet said. “Regardless of what Mr. Shellingsworth thinks, the evidence is saying so.”
“I think it’s time we spoke to the suspect,” Heather said. “Instead of talking about her.”
The Prime Suspect
“This is some sort of terrible nightmare,” Kelly said. “But I can’t seem to wake up from it.”
She sat across the table from Heather, Amy, and Ryan in the interrogation room.
"We're sorry for your loss," Heather said.
“It doesn’t feel real yet,” Kelly said. “How can Ben be gone? How can you think I did it?”
"That is what we want to talk to you about," Ryan said. “You have to admit that it looks bad for you.”
“I know, but I can’t understand it. That’s why I want to cooperate with you,” she said. “Because maybe you can figure out what really happened. I would never have hurt Ben. I loved him.”
Champagne Cream & Murder-An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 14 Page 3
