Murder After Midnight: Northwest Cozy Mystery Series

by Harman, Dianne

  MURDER AFTER MIDNIGHT

  By

  Dianne Harman

  (A Northwest Cozy Mystery - Book 4)

  Copyright © 2017 Dianne Harman

  www.dianneharman.com

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1979051439

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Who would have thought when I published my first cozy mystery, Kelly’s Koffee Shop, that just three years later I would have published 30 cozy mystery books that are contained in five different series? Certainly not me! I never could have scripted that my books would become so popular. Readers email me almost daily telling me they liked a certain book or asking me when my next book will be published. It always makes my day, and I thank you for your kind words and support.

  I’ve often been asked why I decided to write a series set in the Pacific Northwest. That area of the country has been a part of my life since the beginning, because I was born in Tacoma, Washington. When I was first married, my husband was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington, and we lived there for two years. Fifteen years ago our son attended Gonzaga Law School in Spokane where he met and married a wonderful young woman from Richland, Washington. They subsequently moved to the Seattle area where they currently live. My husband and I visit the Northwest several times a year and have explored many new places, many of which are reflected in my Northwest Series. We recently returned from trips to Gearhart, Oregon and Bend, Oregon. Great places with great people. I think I must have some unresolved karma with that area of the country for all that to happen. Anyway, I thought I’d give you a little background.

  I’m thoroughly enjoying writing the books in the Northwest Series, and I have to say that Al, the gangster character portrayed in this book, has become one of my all-time favorite characters. A mobster with a heart of gold, yet he’s afraid of the ocean and spiders? What’s not to love!

  As usual, many thanks to Vivek and Tom. They both give me wise counsel and a tremendous amount of help. And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my copyeditor, Connie Leap, who seemingly can always find the smallest grammatical or typographical error, even after my books have been proofread at least five times. I’m always amazed when she brings them to my attention. I live for the day when she won’t find one!

  I hope you enjoy this newest book in my Northwest Series, and again, thanks for your support. You’ll never know how much I value and appreciate it!

  Free Paperbacks

  I'm giving away FREE Paperbacks. Find out more at www.dianneharman.com/freepaperback.html

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  RECIPES

  ABOUT DIANNE

  PROLOGUE

  “Ten, nine, eight…” DeeDee Wilson stood towards the back of the crowd of revelers milling around on the front lawn of the sprawling grounds of Dana Donnelly’s home on Bainbridge Island. DeeDee knew that Dana’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display was sure to be a good one and tried to join in the spirit of the occasion. After all, it wasn’t every night her business, Deelish, got to cater a sit-down dinner for fifty guests. The party would probably get a mention on Dana’s Entertainment and Showbiz segment on the following morning’s New Day NW morning television show. And, judging by the compliments DeeDee had received about the food, the meal had been a hit. Three high-profile guests had already made bookings for DeeDee to cater their upcoming events, and her business cards had made it into the hands of several more.

  The chorus from the guests grew louder.

  “…three, two, one, Happy New Year!!!!”

  DeeDee nodded to her helpers, who immediately sprang into action. Her regular waitress, Susie, and the two other servers on loan to her for the night from her friend Tammy, who owned a small cafe in town, took that as their cue to start popping the corks on the champagne bottles that were lined up in ice buckets on a long trestle table on the patio. With practiced expertise, they began to fill the crystal champagne flutes which sat on trays on top of the white linen covered table. Moments later, DeeDee lifted a tray and started moving through the crowd with ease. The loud bangs and explosions coming from the fireworks were followed by a fizzing sound as rockets streaked across the murky sky followed by dazzling bursts of light that lit up the night in a blaze of color.

  DeeDee steadied the tray, a fixed smile on her face, as she served the specially imported champagne Dana had requested. She nodded mutely at the people who thanked her for the beautiful meal, not trusting herself to speak. Her emotions were all over the place at the moment. There was no doubt that her menu of seafood cheesecake, sausage stuffed clams, cranberry blue cheese salad, roast tenderloin of beef, and garlic mashed potatoes with honeyed carrots had been a huge success. The dessert was a hit with everyone as well, especially the hostess.

  “The chocolate tiramisu cake! I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” Dana had said to her after the meal was over. “Oops. Are you all right, my dear? Did I say something wrong? You look white as a sheet.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” DeeDee had reassured her. She knew Dana was joking, but the thought of another death so soon after the last one DeeDee had been caught up in, was emotionally almost too much for her. DeeDee had tried pushing the events of the last week out of her mind while she rearranged the plates of petits fours. She noticed Susie, who was pouring the coffees, was looking at her worriedly, but to her credit, she hadn’t said anything.

  Now, watching Dana Donnelly embrace her husband Mickey, DeeDee was overcome with a sense of sadness at what she herself had recently lost. There was a lot of hugging and kissing going on among the guests as they celebrated the start of the new year, and DeeDee was oddly comforted by the light touch of a reassuring hand on her back.

  “Happy New Year,” whispered the voice beside her.

  DeeDee looked around with a start. “Happy New Year, Susie,” she said with a faint smile, before gazing up at the shooting star rockets illuminating the skyline. For a moment, she thought about making a wish.

  “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, DeeDee,” Susie went on, “but I’m sure you and Jake will patch things up.”

  DeeDee’s eyes never left the meteoric shower of shooting stars as she watched them disappear into the blackness. “There is no me and Jake, Susie, and there never will be again. We need to get back to work. I think it’s time to start cleaning up and packing.”

  DeeDee and Susie had just turned back towards the house, when the high-pitched ringing sound of a spoon being tapped against a glass caused everyone to look at Dana, who was trying to capture the attention of the guests.

  “My dear friends,” Dana beamed. “Happy New Year to all of you.”

  “Hear, hear,” heckled a male voice, and several others clapped
and cheered.

  Dana bowed and giggled. “Thank you so much for celebrating with Mickey and me tonight.” She reached out for her husband’s hand, and he stepped beside her, kissing his wife’s cheek. No matter what the rumor mill said about Dana’s extra-marital dalliances, to DeeDee the look of love they shared was very real.

  “It’s a special night for us,” Dana went on. “A night of new beginnings. And much as I love to party, I have to be live on television at 8:00 a.m. Please join me in raising a glass to good health, happiness, and new beginnings. And please have a safe trip home.”

  “Health and happiness,” the guests murmured, clinking their glasses and draining them.

  DeeDee walked around the garden with a tray, collecting empty glasses. She hoped she hadn’t been too sharp with Susie, who had gone back inside the house to begin the cleanup process. Wandering across the now deserted lawn, she paused and looked at the faint outline of the moon as it tried to peep out from behind the dark scattered clouds. Just a slight glimmer of light was visible in front of her, where the garden overlooked Puget Sound. Behind her, Dana’s house was still bustling with activity as guests said their goodbyes, and a line of cars, limousines, and taxis snaked its way down the long curved driveway.

  DeeDee reached in her pocket and held her breath. The phone she was carrying had buzzed several times with New Year’s texts, and she quickly scrolled down the list of names on the screen, not finding the one she was hoping to see.

  The sound of Dana’s distinctive laughter rang out through the open glass accordion doors that separated the house from the patio, snapping DeeDee out of her feelings of self-pity. Although her instinct was to hurl the phone into the Sound, she knew she might regret it later, and placed it on the tray she was carrying for safekeeping. She’d been foolish, no, she’d been downright childish, to throw the eternity ring Jake had given her back at him the last time she’d seen him. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

  She turned and made her way back to the house. When she entered Dana’s kitchen, she saw that Susie had already packed everything up, and was wiping down the white marble countertops.

  “I sent the other two helpers home. I hope that’s okay,” Susie said. “I think they were waiting for their money, but I wasn’t sure how long you were going to be outside in the garden. I told them you’d give it to them at Tammy’s in the next day or so.” Susie shifted from foot to foot, waiting for DeeDee’s response.

  “That’s fine, Susie,” DeeDee said with a sigh. “I’m sorry if I sounded harsh when we spoke earlier, and I apologize for it. I didn’t mean to.”

  DeeDee saw a wave of relief pass over Susie’s face, and the younger woman appeared to relax a little. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry, DeeDee. I shouldn’t have said anything about, well, you know.”

  DeeDee smiled at her. “It’s okay, really. I’ll be fine. A new year is all about new beginnings, like Dana said. Thanks for taking care of all of this,” she said, gesturing towards the boxes on the floor.

  Containers of food were stacked neatly and labelled, and all of the dishes, silverware, and cooking utensils they’d brought with them had been cleaned and were neatly stacked in boxes. DeeDee glanced at her watch, confused as to how Susie had done everything so quickly. “Oh, my. I didn’t realize I was outside for so long. You go ahead, Susie. I know you want to see your boyfriend. I’ll drop your money by Tammy’s in the next few days.”

  Susie opened her mouth to say something, and DeeDee gave her a warning look. “Hurry, or I might change my mind.”

  Susie grinned, pulled off her apron, and grabbed her purse before planting a kiss on DeeDee’s cheek and rushing toward the door which almost hit her in the face when it was opened at that moment by Dana.

  A bemused Dana watched Susie leave. “She’s a great kid,” she said turning to DeeDee. “They all are. In fact, you guys pulled it out of the hat big-time tonight. I go to a lot of parties, and this was one of the best. Plus, I sure didn’t give you much notice. Thanks!” She smiled broadly as she reached out and handed DeeDee a check.

  Glancing at the amount written on the check, DeeDee’s mouth fell open. She was about to protest, but Dana waved a hand to silence her.

  “I know it’s more than we agreed on, but it’s a special occasion, and I want to give you a little extra. You and your crew worked very hard, and I couldn’t be happier. Really.”

  “That’s very generous of you, Dana, thank you,” DeeDee said. “I’ll make sure Susie and the girls get their share. They’ll be thrilled. They were a little star-struck tonight, but you made us all feel very welcome in your home, and I appreciate it.”

  “Goodnight, DeeDee. I hope everything works out for you. Happy New Year.”

  DeeDee was surprised when Dana reached over and hugged her, and she stood alone in the kitchen for a moment gathering her thoughts after Dana had left. Folding the check and placing it in her purse, she lifted her buzzing cell phone from the tray on the counter and switched it off without a glance.

  Something about Dana’s happiness was catching. Humming to herself, DeeDee made the first of several trips outside to load her SUV with her catering equipment and the leftover food. The extra money Dana had given her, together with the fee for the party, would be enough for a down payment on a new car, even after all the expenses were taken out. DeeDee had felt bad charging Dana three times her usual rate because of the short notice for the booking, but Dana hadn’t blinked an eye.

  I guess Jake was right about one thing , DeeDee thought, I must have been undercharging before . But the other things he’d said to her, no. She didn’t agree with him on those.

  The thought of Jake, and the fact it was New Year’s Eve and she was alone, hurt. She sat in her car for a while before heading home. Her fiftieth birthday was coming up soon, and another possibility for using the extra money she’d received from Dana was to take a trip somewhere. Maybe her sister Roz would come with her, or she could ask her recently widowed friend, Cassie Roberts. DeeDee had always wanted to walk the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, or visit the pyramids in Egypt. What better time than on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday?

  The sound of a commotion at the side of the house jolted DeeDee back to reality. She turned and saw a shadowy figure as it came running from the direction of the pool house toward the front of her vehicle. The person was blindly running straight towards her darkened car, and she wondered if the person had even noticed it. She assumed it was one of the guests from the party who probably had too much to drink.

  “Hey,” she shouted, fumbling for the switch to turn on the SUV’s headlights. “Watch out, you idiot!” She wasn’t sure if it was the sound of her yelling that caused the person to stop and raise an arm to their face, before running off in another direction, or if they saw the car just in time. Either way, by the time she’d found the right switch in the darkened interior of her SUV and turned on the headlights to illuminate her vision, the figure had disappeared.

  As she drove the short distance back to her home on Bainbridge Island, she looked forward to seeing her husky dog, Balto, who would be waiting for her. She knew by the time she unpacked the car and walked Balto, the night would be half over before she got in bed. Even so, she was determined to wake up bright and early on January 1st to start the new year in a better place than where she’d been the last few days.

  However, when she woke up and looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand the following morning and discovered it was already after 9:00 a.m., it was the first indication that her new year wasn’t starting off the way she’d hoped. So much for an early start for the new year.

  Pulling on her warm terrycloth robe, DeeDee wandered downstairs and opened the door to get the paper, and at the same time let Balto out so he could commune with nature. Instead, Balto started pacing back and forth beside her car, which alerted her to the second indication that the new year may not go quite as well as she’d hoped. She noticed a white piece of paper secured under
the wiper blade on her windshield, flapping in the wind. Yawning, she walked over and pulled it out from behind the wiper blade. When she read the words on the folded note, its contents stopped her in her tracks.

  It read, “If you breathe one word of what you saw last night, you will die.”

  Her hand trembled, and she unconsciously reached out for Balto. The sound of her telephone ringing from inside the house on the table in the hallway where she’d left it the night before forced her to move, even though her legs felt like jello.

  Maybe it’s Jake , she thought, trying to will her body to make it up the steps before the phone stopped ringing. Please let it be Jake.

  She cursed under her breath when the phone stopped just as she made it inside and closed the door behind her. Placing the note on the hallway table, she looked down at Balto.

  “Oh Balto, I really wish you could talk, so you could tell me what to do. I don’t believe this is happening.”

  DeeDee froze when she heard the sound of a car screeching to a halt on the street in front of her home. Her first thought was that the slow, steady, footsteps she heard on the porch a moment later were either those of someone who wanted to kill her or someone who could help her. Paralyzed by fear, she hardly dared breathe, even when whoever it was knocked sharply on the door. Surely killers don’t knock on your door when they came to kill you, do they? she thought.

  “Open up, Police!” said the curt voice on the other side of the door, and only then did DeeDee allow herself to exhale.

  When she looked through the peephole she saw Dan Hewson, the Chief of Police, standing on the porch. That was the third indication of the new year not living up to her hopes. Another police officer was walking up the steps behind him.

  “Mrs. Wilson? We’re here to question you about the murder of Dana Donnelly. Please open the door.”

  CHAPTER 1

  DeeDee twisted the delicate vintage gold eternity band inlaid with diamonds on the third finger of her left hand.