Vacations and Victims (Senoia Cozy Mystery Book 10)

by Susan Harper

  “Well, I guess this does technically qualify as a vacation still,” Felicity said and then sighed, glancing at the bandage around Iris’s arm. She was really going to have a hard time explaining to her parents how she had taken her little sister with her to interview a potential suspect-turned-victim and how doing so had resulted in Iris being shot. It was not a conversation she was looking forward to, but Iris seemed to have moved past the incident rather quickly.

  Bonnie came walking back quickly, a big grin on her face. “Guess what,” she said.

  “What?” Felicity asked, smiling right back.

  “Tell me the tire tracks match Sam’s car,” Iris said.

  “Bingo,” Bonnie said, and Iris squealed again.

  “We did it. We did it. We did it,” she sang and did a little dance.

  “Not quite,” Bonnie said. “This isn’t over until Sam is in custody.”

  “Agreed,” Felicity said. “Now, we just have to find him.”

  14

  “You really think this is enough evidence to bring Sam down?” Iris asked.

  “It’s fairly circumstantial,” Bonnie admitted. She was carrying with her a backpack, full of items they might need if they actually came across the murder weapon, along with sandwiches and drinks in case they all got parched from their long march up the river. “But the tire tracks are pretty solid.”

  Currently, the three of them were walking upstream in shallow water, each wearing a pair of rented mud boots. “And if we find the murder weapon, that will only add to what we can bring up against him,” Felicity said.

  “If the forensic team wasn’t able to find the murder weapon, what makes you so certain that we will?” Iris asked.

  “We know where the police have already looked,” Bonnie said. “They tried to find the location of the murder by walking upriver on the banks. They assumed the killer killed Donald along the banks and then pushed him in the water. If he was smart, though, he would have thrown the weapon in the water as well. Nothing worth looking into has washed up yet, and I’m thinking that with the number of towns and people floating around on inner tubes in these parts, someone would have found something by now. So, I think Donald was killed further upriver. Maybe Donald and Sam met upriver?”

  “Which makes sense,” Felicity said.

  “Why?” Iris asked.

  “Sam lives out of town and upriver,” Bonnie said. “So, there is a good chance that Sam managed to talk Donald into meeting up. I bet he confronted Donald about holding out on the others, and he could have chased him to the river.”

  “Do we think that Sam also killed Lonnie? Because if he had a gun to kill Lonnie with, you would think that he would have done with same with Donald,” Iris suggested.

  “I’m thinking what happened with Donald was on impulse,” Felicity said. “Sam probably confronted him about the money, and Donald denied everything. They got into an argument. Then, Sam hit him in the head with the murder weapon. Probably didn’t mean to kill him, but once he realized Donald was dead, he threw him in the river—which was smart because it washed away any evidence of him apart from the scraps of metal in his head. Then, he probably planned Lonnie’s murder to make sure he covered up his tracks. And, no doubt, he robbed Donald’s home before Mick could.”

  “Sounds about right,” Bonnie said. “It’s a solid theory. We’re about a mile from Sam’s house now.”

  “Guys!” Iris cried. She had been trudging along in the water ahead of them for some time, speaking to them from over her shoulder during their journey. “I think I found something!” She was kneeling with her hands in the water. “What is this thing?” Iris asked, holding up the small hand tool. “It’s got a metal point on the end. Was Donald’s head injury more of a blunt force or was he stabbed in the head?”

  “It was definitely something sharp,” Bonnie said as they approached.

  Iris handed the tool over to Bonnie. “Well, this thing is definitely sharp, and the point looks a little damaged—like, maybe it was used to stab something and got a little bent. But, what is it?”

  “I know what that is!” Felicity exclaimed. “It’s a hoof pick!”

  “Like for cleaning up a horse’s hoof?” Bonnie asked.

  “Yeah, our dad used to take us to a local horse farm all the time when we were kids, and I remember seeing the riders use those to clean dirt, rocks, and mud from their horses’ hooves,” Felicity said, then crossed her arms confidently. “Guess who we know who owns a horse?”

  “Sam,” Iris said excitedly.

  “I’m going to call forensics,” Bonnie said. “Let them know we found a potential murder weapon in the river. If they can match this to Donald’s injuries, Sam is busted.”

  “In the meantime, don’t you think we should try to find Sam?” Felicity suggested.

  “I’ll go ahead and call forensics, but yes. We’re almost to his house. We’ll be chill. Not let him know we’re onto him, and we’ll just ask him to come in for questioning. We know he was in town doing rides in his carriage, so it’s certainly plausible that we would want to ask him if he saw Donald that day and if he saw anything suspicious,” Bonnie said, making her way toward the edge of the river. “Careful, it gets pretty deep over this way.”

  The women exited the river, and Bonnie pulled a baggie from her backpack. She placed the hoof pick in the bag, then put the bag back into her backpack. “Anyone need some nourishment?” she asked, digging around for a sandwich.

  “I don’t know how I feel about eating a sandwich you pulled from the same backpack you just shoved a murder weapon into,” Iris said, and Felicity laughed.

  “We’ll go out to eat tonight,” Felicity said, agreeing with her sister somewhat.

  “Your loss,” Bonnie said. “I made bratwurst sandwiches.”

  “You still have our tennis shoes?” Felicity asked.

  “I got ‘em… Dang, they squished the other two sandwiches,” Bonnie said, tossing everyone’s shoes aside. She then forced the rented mud boots into the backpack, muttering about how they barely fit and she didn’t want to damage the murder weapon.

  Once they had all changed back into their more comfortable walking shoes, they continued walking up the slight mountainside toward where Sam lived. Felicity was a little nervous. The last time she had shown up to speak with someone about the case, they had gotten shot at. She decided she would make sure Iris stayed back a bit this time around.

  Sam’s house was a quaint little cottage up in the mountains. He also had a large barn for Betsy. Currently, the man was out riding his horse in her fenced in pasture. He spotted the three of them walking up his driveway, so he rode the horse toward the edge of fences to wait for them. “What brings you three all the way up here this evening?” he asked.

  Bonnie smiled. “Hey, Sam,” she said. “Working on my investigation. I’ve hired the Overton sisters here to help out with the case.”

  Sam smiled. “Oh, right. You two staying out of trouble?” he asked.

  “Doing our best,” Felicity said.

  “Good. Good,” Sam said. “What can I do for you ladies?”

  “Well, Sam, we’re trying to interview as many possible witnesses as we can,” Bonnie said. “I’ve been told you were giving carriage rides in town the evening Donald was killed, so you might have been one of the last ones to have seen the man alive. I was hoping I could talk you into coming down to the station for a formal interview.”

  Sam smiled. “Oh, I can do that. Though, I don’t know if I saw anything useful. I did see Donald doing his little pirate act like he always did, but we didn’t speak much.”

  “I realize that, but you never know. If I get a proper interrogator speaking to you, they can normally help you to remember things you wouldn’t have thought was important that wind up being just what we need,” Bonnie said, smiling politely. “Do you mind?”

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt nothing,” Sam said. “Just give me a minute to get Betsy situated and back in her stall.”
/>   “Of course,” Bonnie said.

  “You have any more horses?” Iris asked, looking toward the barn.

  “I got one named Billy,” Sam said. “But Betsy is a lot friendlier. I usually only take her out for carriage rides. My nephew does horse shows, and he normally rides Billy in competitions. I only take him out on occasion myself because he’ll try to throw me, but he’s fast as all get out.” Sam got off Betsy and began walking her up toward the barn. “Give me just a minute, Bonnie, and I’ll be right with you. Did you three walk all this way?”

  “Just getting a little exercise,” Bonnie assured him.

  “I’ll drive us then,” he said. “I appreciate exercise as much as the next guy, but I’m too old to be walking up and down this mountain.” He laughed as he walked Betsy to the barn.

  Felicity, Iris, and Bonnie stood together at the gate, staring toward the barn. “I think he knows,” Felicity said under her breath.

  “What makes you think that?” Bonnie asked.

  “He’s being too friendly,” Felicity said.

  “Sam’s a friendly guy,” Bonnie said. “He’s got to keep up that charade.”

  “I’m sure he is, but tell me something: if a rookie cop and two out-of-towners just showed up at your house in the late evening demanding you come with them just for a casual interview, would you agree to it that quickly? Or, would you at least complain and maybe insist on doing it the next day? I know I would. I’d find this ridiculous,” Felicity explained.

  “You do make an excellent point,” Bonnie said, eyeing the barn. “You think he’s going to try to run?”

  “He’s too old to try to run down this mountain,” Iris said.

  “And his car is parked on the other side of the house,” Bonnie said. “He’d have to get around us to try to—”

  Before Bonnie could complete her sentence, Sam came hurtling out of the barn on horseback. And he wasn’t riding Betsy. He zipped past them on the youthful, wild steed before Bonnie could even reach for her gun. As he drove by, Sam threw a foot out—hitting Bonnie in the face and knocking her flat on her back. “Ack!” Bonnie yelped when she landed. “I swear… Is my nose busted?” she asked, and when she went to sit upright, she winced in pain.

  Iris knelt by Bonnie. “Oh, man, you landed right on a rock!”

  “Yeah, I did…” she moaned. “Please move it out from under me, I don’t think I can get up!”

  Iris pulled the jagged rock out from under Bonnie. “Aww, man, Felicity, she’s really hurt!”

  Felicity knew better, but there was just something about her that wouldn’t allow her to just let justice go unserved. “Call 911, Iris!” Felicity called, then ran toward the barn.

  She wasn’t sure what her sister was expecting, but it certainly was not this. Iris’s eyes were wide as apples when Felicity went flying by them on Betsy. “Don’t you dare, Overton!” Bonnie called from the ground, gripping her lower back while Iris sat next to her on the phone with the police.

  Felicity flew down the driveway and into the woods where she had seen Sam take off. “Come on, girl,” Felicity encouraged the old mare. “Don’t let that little punk show you up. Billy’s nothing compared to you, old girl.”

  Perhaps the encouragement worked. Betsy seemed to pick up speed. Felicity was not an extremely skilled rider, but growing up in the fairly rural South, this certainly wasn’t her first time on a horse. Aside from where their father had taken them, she had also taken horseback riding lessons a few summers in high school. She, however, had most certainly never ridden a horse at this speed before.

  Frankly, she wasn’t really sure what she had been thinking when she had hopped onto Betsy. What was she even going to do when, or if, she caught up to Sam?

  Sam had apparently not had that much faith in them. He had turned his frantic sprint into a mere trot once he had gotten a few miles down the mountainside, only a short distance from Helen. “Busted,” Felicity said under her breath. “You got one more burst of energy in you, girl?” Felicity asked, petting Betsy’s mane. She kicked the horse’s side and snapped the reins, and they took off. The poor carriage horse was panting a bit, but she obeyed her rider wholeheartedly.

  When Sam heard her coming, he snapped the reins of Billy to get him going, but Billy didn’t care for him too much. The stubborn young gelding reared back in frustration at the abrupt command, and Sam had a hard time holding on. They were right by the river, and Billy sent Sam flying.

  “Ouch,” Felicity said, knowing Sam had likely hit a few rocks before his abrupt splash into the deeper water. Billy ran off, and Felicity heard sirens in the distance. Hopefully, one of the incoming officers would chase him down.

  Felicity dismounted Betsy and hurried to the riverside. Sam seemed to have gotten his boot stuck in some rocks, and the man was struggling on his back, trying to sit up to keep himself from drowning. Felicity placed her phone in her pocket, recording. “Give it up, Sam!” she called.

  The man coughed and spit up water, still struggling to free himself. “Help!”

  Felicity wished she hadn’t taken off the mud boots because now she felt her tennis shoes soaking in the water as she stepped carefully on the stones toward where Sam was repeatedly dunking himself as he tried to free his shoes. “You killed Donald and then killed Lonnie to cover it up, didn’t you?” Felicity asked, now standing over the old man.

  “Yeah, so what? You don’t have any proof!” he shouted. “Get me out of here before I drown!”

  Felicity looked up and saw one of the patrol cars approaching. She waved frantically, watching to make sure it was slowing down before reaching down to help Sam sit up. “You’re a creep,” Felicity said.

  The man gasped once he was sitting up on the rocks, and Felicity was able to kick his boot free. “Donald deserved it,” Sam said. “He was stealing from me.”

  “He was stealing stolen money,” Felicity said. “So, you admit it, then?”

  “Yeah, I killed him,” he snarled. “But you don’t have any proof.”

  Felicity just smiled.

  The old man couldn’t get up; he had twisted his ankle when he had fallen. “Stupid horse.”

  “You almost killed my baby sister,” Felicity said, then kicked him right in the chest, sending him toppling over backward and dunking himself in the water just as two officers arrived to pull him out.

  The officers placed him in the back of a patrol car, and they followed Felicity up the path back to Sam’s house while she walked Betsy. Once they arrived, she could see another officer standing over Iris and Bonnie, gripping Billy’s reins. A second officer was on the ground, checking out Bonnie’s injury. “Yeah, that rock cut into you,” the officer was saying. “Looks pretty rough, Bonnie. We need to get this looked at.”

  Bonnie glanced up when she saw Felicity. “Please tell me you got him.”

  Felicity smiled. “We got him. Congratulations, Bonnie. Looks like you solved your first case.” Felicity handed Bonnie her cellphone and hit play. Bonnie grinned as she listened to Sam’s confession play out for her.

  “Thanks, Overton girls. I owe you one.”

  15

  Explaining to her parents how Iris had managed to get shot during their trip to Helen had not been easy to do. In fact, it had been a complete nightmare. Felicity was a grown woman who owned two successful businesses and no longer lived at home, yet somehow, she had felt like a sixteen-year-old girl who was getting into trouble and was worried about being grounded.

  “Honestly, why would you drag your little sister into something like that?” her father asked, his arms crossed.

  “Dad, I’m the one who booked Felicity the job,” Iris said. “And I’m the one who got us caught. None of it was Felicity’s fault.”

  Mrs. Overton was just shaking her head. “Honestly, I’m proud,” she said. Mr. Overton groaned and plopped down in a chair at the kitchen table.

  “Of course you are,” he said, resting his chin up on his palms. “Hon, Iris was shot!”

/>   “The bullet barely grazed me,” Iris said. “I only needed four stitches.”

  “Yeah, well, the bullet could have gotten you in the head!” he countered.

  “Dad, you’re right,” Felicity said. “I shouldn’t have taken up the job offer when I was supposed to be watching after Iris.”

  “I’m a grown adult too, you know?” Iris argued.

  “No, you’re a college kid,” Felicity said.

  “I could be starting law school in another year or two,” Iris said. “I’m not some stupid kid. I knew what I was getting us into. And I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I had fun helping you, Felicity, and it was cool getting to see what you do.”

  “Law school?” their mother chirped. “So, you’ve officially decided? That sounded pretty definite there, Iris.”

  Iris smiled. “Yeah, I think so. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but I think that’s where my heart is.”

  Felicity smiled. This was something she had already known her sister had been seriously contemplating, but she knew now that Iris had unveiled the plan to their parents, it was pretty much official. “That’s awesome,” Felicity said. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks,” Iris said. “It was kind of inspired by you. You’re such a justice-seeker, and I’m proud. The whole criminal justice thing, I guess it just runs in our blood.”

  Thankfully, the news of Iris officially deciding what she wanted to pursue after she finished up her bachelor’s program was enough to excite her parents and get them off Felicity’s back. She was ready to get home, so she bid her parents and sister farewell—promising to continue hanging around a good bit that summer. She’d had so much fun with Iris in Helen, but she was honestly very excited to get home to Jefferson. She couldn’t believe how much she had missed him.

  When she pulled in the driveway, she smiled to see Jack’s vehicle sitting outside next to Jefferson’s. She wasn’t certain, but she was under the impression the men had hung out a good bit during her absence. She was relieved at how well this new business venture with Jack had worked out. Having a business with your current boyfriend and running a second with your ex-boyfriend all under the same roof had sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, but that was the furthest thing from the reality they had found themselves in. They all got along quite well, and now both businesses were flourishing.