A Killer Latte

by Tonya Kappes

  “You said Daisy didn’t want to go back to her husband?” Spencer asked him. “Did she tell you why?”

  “No. She just said to leave her here.” Rodney shook his head. “I only did it because we need the money for our baby. I wasn’t going to harm no one. I just wanted the money. That’s all.”

  “When did Mr. Lemon get in touch with you?” Spencer asked Rodney.

  “A couple of days ago. I was hanging around downtown, painting the gazebo for the city for a few extra dollars. He walked up and told me who he was and said that Daisy would hand me an envelope with the money in it after the last taping.”

  The envelope. My mind raced back to the photo Aunt Maxi had of Rodney and Vanessa standing behind the police line on the last day of filming, and she said there was writing on the envelope and not the others.

  “Did the envelope have writing on it?” I jerked out of Patrick’s arms and went across the yard to where Spencer was questioning Rodney.

  “I don’t know. It’s in the cabin.” He had a look of deep-set worry on his face.

  “Roxy? Please?” Spencer tried to stop me.

  “Wait, Aunt Maxi showed me a photo where Daisy was handing Rodney an envelope like she did everyone who wanted one of those photos. Daisy already had the photos stuffed in the envelopes, and they have nothing written on them. This one did, and Aunt Maxi had zeroed in on it.” There was a shuffling noise coming from the cabin. I looked over my shoulder.

  The coroner was pushing what I assumed was Daisy out the door. The body was in a black zipper bag on top of the church cart. He stopped shy of the trail and nodded for Spencer to come over.

  “Rodney, you didn’t shoot them?” I asked him quickly before Spencer could shut me down.

  “No, ma’am. I even pray over these little squirrels when I kill them, I feel so bad.” His country accent was as thick as the trees from here to the road. “I’m telling you, she didn’t want to go back to her husband. She insisted I leave her here and really take the money. She even offered me one of them necklaces she had around her neck.”

  “The jewels!” I jumped to my feet. “Stop!”

  The coroner and Spencer turned around to look at me.

  “The jewels. Where is the jewelry?” I asked.

  “Yeah, where are those jewels?” Rodney yelled over to them. “I didn’t take them, but she offered one of the necklaces to me.”

  Spencer and the coroner confirmed there were no signs of the jewelry in the cabin or on Daisy.

  “Sir.” One of the police officers stood in the cabin with a pair of tweezers in his hand. There was something between the tongs.

  Spencer went over there and let the coroner take Daisy’s body back down the trail and to the hearse, then he would go ahead and take her to the morgue to do the autopsy.

  I went back over to Rodney, and another officer had started to question him per Spencer’s request.

  “I’m telling you, I went to catch some food for her because she wanted to try squirrel. It’s a little gamy for me, but she wanted to try it before I took her to the drop-off.” His words clicked in my head.

  “You missed the drop-off,” I told him.

  “I missed it?” He really didn’t make sense to me now.

  “Okay. Start from the beginning,” I told him.

  “A couple of days ago, I was painting the gazebo in town. That’s when Mr. Lemon asked me to kidnap Daisy. He said she’d give me an envelope with a few hundred dollars in it at the final taping. Me and Vanessa showed up and got the money. That afternoon, he said she’d be late to the council meeting because she liked to make an entrance. I went to the boardwalk and waited for her to go to the meeting. She was late like he said. Then I told her who I was, and she played a good part at being kidnapped. She had no idea what I was talking about.” He shook his head. “Right then and there, I knew I should’ve taken her back, but I figured on her acting and all, playing the part, so I went ahead and brought her back here.”

  “Where is her phone?” I asked.

  “She never had a phone.” He gave me a cross look.

  “How did you send the ransom text?” I asked.

  “I never did any of that. Mr. Lemon told me to take her to the fork in the road and pick up the bag.” He added to his story. “He said he’d let me know when. I ain’t heard from him since.”

  “What were you to do with the bag?” I asked.

  “He never said.” That was a strange response since the bag contained the money Stephen needed for the production company not to go into bankruptcy. “He said that was the end and all would be good.”

  The crunching of leaves and the glow of flashlights came from the wooded area on the trail from the road. The flashlights reminded me how quickly the dusk turned to dark and how much darker it was in the deep woods.

  “You … you!” Stephen Lemon came out of the woods, accompanied by another officer. He darted toward Rodney with his fists in the air. “You killed my Daisy!”

  The officer grabbed Stephen by the arm and jerked him back.

  “I did no such thing. I’ve been waiting to hear from you when to give her back.” Rodney stuck his feet up in the air, trying to shield himself from Stephen in case Stephen broke free from the officer. “I did exactly what you told me to do, and she didn’t want to come back to you!”

  “You set up the kidnapping?” Spencer walked out of the cabin. “Stephen Lemon, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and possible murder of Daisy Lemon.”

  My jaw dropped to the ground while I watched Spencer read Stephen Lemon and Rodney Crenshaw their rights, cuffing them in the process.

  “I’m telling you that she didn’t care that I took her. She thanked me.” Rodney continued to proclaim his innocence while they dragged him out of the woods.

  “Well, now what do you think?” Spencer walked over to me and got out of the way of the investigation team as they began to set up lights and the equipment they needed to work through the night.

  “I’m not sure.” I gnawed on the edge of my lip.

  “She doesn’t think a thing.” Patrick spoke up. “I’m putting my foot down. This is where Roxanne Bloom Cane stops investigating and gets back to normal life since it appears you have your kidnapper and killer in custody.”

  “Stephen Lemon has been accounted for at the time of her death. And Rodney Crenshaw doesn’t own a Nosler M48 TGR 2010. Too high-dollar of a rifle, and that’s what killed Daisy and hurt Maxine.” He held up an evidence bag with a couple of bullets from inside the cabin. “The coroner even confirmed the weapon. It looks like we’ve got a killer on the loose with a kidnapping gone wrong.”

  Suddenly, everything around me went dark as sheer fright swept over me, leaving me with a feeling that there was more to Daisy Lemon than she’d wanted anyone to know.

  THIRTEEN

  All night, I tossed and turned. Each turn, I would grab my cell phone that I’d put under my pillow in case Aunt Maxi had woken up after her successful surgery, though I knew she wouldn’t be awake until the morning or later.

  It was a great sign that the hospital hadn’t called me. They said they would call only if something had gone wrong. After Spencer took my statement, Patrick and I had driven the forty-five minutes to Lexington, where Aunt Maxi had gotten out of emergency surgery and they’d removed the bullet that was inches from her heart.

  It took the hospital staff’s assurance that they would call me no matter what time it was, and Patrick’s literal pulling me out of the hospital, to get me back to Honey Springs without her. It was the first time I’d ever been in Honey Springs and she wasn’t.

  They’d given me her clothes and her cell phone. Several times, I’d flipped through her photos and couldn’t help but smile at the ones she’d taken of Daisy. Daisy sure did look happy and not like a kidnap victim. She didn’t look like a victim at all. My heart broke as I looked at her beautiful smile, but behind the sparkling eyes, I knew, there was hurt.

  A deep hurt that only Daisy
knew.

  I’d checked the Honey Springs Sheriff’s Department Facebook page, where they had updated the status of Stephen and Rodney. According to the last thing they’d posted, both men were still in custody and going before a judge. I still couldn’t believe that Stephen had had Rodney kidnap Daisy, but I also couldn’t help but believe what Rodney had said about not shooting her, since the evidence pulled from Aunt Maxi’s body and the stray bullets found in the cabin didn’t match Rodney’s gun or any guns they’d found when they’d raided his house. Before we’d left the scene, Spencer had told me the two men had turned on each other, and Stephen had started to deny what Rodney was saying and vice versa.

  They didn’t mention that on the Facebook update.

  “Roxy, go back to sleep.” Patrick laid a soft hand on my back after I’d swung my legs over the mattress. “You need to rest before you have to get up.”

  “I’m fine.” I turned around, rubbed my hand over his head, and gave him a kiss. “I can’t sleep, and I’d rather be at the coffeehouse so it’s ready to go when Bunny gets there.”

  “Isn’t it Bunny’s morning to open?” He pushed himself to sit up in the bed.

  “She is, but I need to get some things done in case I need to stay at the hospital longer.” It was just an excuse to get up and get out of my head.

  “I’ll go with you.” He tugged the covers off.

  “No. You stay here with the dogs.” I glanced over at the two dog beds on the floor. Pepper and Sassy were happily snoring next to each other. “I’m going to go bake a few things, and call me when you get up.”

  “Honey?” His soft voice questioned me.

  “I’m fine. Really.” I stood up and grabbed my robe on the chair next to our bed. “Call me.”

  I headed out into the family room and didn’t even bother flipping the coffee maker on, figuring I would just get a good and hot cup when I got to the coffeehouse.

  With a quick shower, and after putting on a pair of khakis and my black “The Bean Hive” short-sleeved polo, I grabbed my bag and keys. Since I was headed to see Aunt Maxi, I had to drive my car.

  “The cat tree.” I snapped my fingers and was glad to have remembered to get that to take in this morning for the sweet tabby.

  The tree was in the two pieces and in the closet in the laundry room. I flung my bag across my body and retrieved the cat tree before I headed out the door.

  The twinkling lights hung down in the dark sky, some brighter than others. I gulped back tears, thinking about Aunt Maxi and the trouble she’d gotten herself into, thankful it didn’t turn out the way Daisy’s fate had turned out.

  The crickets chirped in the deep woods, and the bullfrogs croaked from Lake Honey Springs.

  I shook off the sadness because I knew I had to get on with the day, and I opened the trunk of the car to put the cat tree in it.

  “What on earth?” I noticed the black money bag Perry had given Stephen for the drop-off was still in there.

  I laid the two pieces of the cat tree down and dragged the bag closer to me so I could open it. The croaking frogs were silenced, the crickets had stopped rubbing their legs, and the sound of the zipper echoed off the quiet lake.

  An audible gasp escaped me when I looked down into the bag. The faint trunk light shed a glow on where Camey’s missing phone books had gone.

  I dragged my phone out of my bag and slammed the trunk shut.

  “Roxy, what’s wrong?” A very sleepy Spencer answered the phone.

  “I’m sorry I’m calling so early,” I apologized and got into my car. “I forget most people don’t get up for work this early.” It was the normal time for a coffeehouse owner and baker. “You can close the case of the missing phone books.”

  “Huh?” He sounded so confused.

  “They are in a black bag in the back of my car.” I just couldn’t believe it. “I guess what Rodney said was true about Stephen staging the kidnapping to get the money. Apparently, he’d gotten two black bags, one with the money and one not.”

  “Stephen’s lawyer came into town a few hours ago and woke the judge up, getting Stephen out on bail. I told them not to leave town.” Spencer didn’t sound too thrilled. “I came home to get a couple hours of sleep. Where’s your car?”

  “I’m headed to the boardwalk to open the coffeehouse for Bunny before I head to the hospital.” I knew he was hinting at coming by to get the bag for evidence. “I only touched the zipper to open it because I thought it was the money.”

  “I’ll be by the coffeehouse to get your keys to get it.” He didn’t even bother saying goodbye before he hung up.

  The few-minutes drive to the boardwalk was really a blur. My mind was filled with what Stephen had done to his wife. How could he do this to her? Did he do more to her that caused her to beg Rodney to let her stay there and not be taken back to Stephen?

  I pulled into the closest spot to the boardwalk to help avoid any questions from the media that were still set up in front of the Cocoon Inn. From what I could tell, the news about Daisy’s fate hadn’t been released.

  I quickly got out of my car and went around the back of the boardwalk to avoid any attention, though it was still dark. You never knew when these media types could be lurking.

  I rounded the other side of the boardwalk and was met with a bright white moon, which appeared to be a double moon from its gorgeous reflection off Lake Honey Springs. The fireflies dotted the space between the lake and moon, giving the lake a twinkling effect that was better than any movie could produce.

  The carriage lights on the boardwalk gave enough of a glow to let me hide within their shadows when I noticed someone walking toward me on the boardwalk. They had on a long coat, gloves, and a floppy hat.

  They stopped at the Bean Hive, covered their brows, and looked into the window as if they were trying to see if I was in there. The doorframe of the dog boutique was my hiding place until the footsteps got closer as the person walked down toward me. I sucked in a deep breath and pulled in my gut, curled my toes, and turned my head to the side to fit perfectly in the doorway.

  “Is that you, Roxy Bloom?” Loretta Bebe tugged off the hat and gave me a good, hard stare. “What on earth are you doing? Have you gone and lost your mind?”

  “Loretta, you had me scared to death.” I let out the big breath, letting my stomach go back to normal size, and wiggled my toes from the cramp I’d gotten by curling them so tightly. I put my hand on my chest. “What are you doing here this time of the morning?”

  “I heard about your Aunt Maxi and what she did to Daisy.” Leave it to Loretta to spin that tale. “I also heard Daisy wasn’t wearing my jewels.”

  “First off, let’s go to the coffeehouse.” I took a step forward and picked up my speed the closer to the Bean Hive I got. “Secondly,” I said over my shoulder, “Aunt Maxi didn’t do anything to Daisy.”

  I opened the front door, flipped on the lights, and hurried in with Loretta behind me.

  “Please close and lock the door.” I headed straight to the coat tree and hung my bag up.

  Callie meowed and jumped up on the counter. I picked up the sweet feline and gave her a few good rubs before she’d had enough, jumping out of my arms. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that cat tree in my trunk.

  “According to People magazine online, they sure did have a good time together.” Loretta looked at the cat, and the woman’s face looked like she was weaned on a pickle. “When I found out my jewels were missing, I put a Google alert on Daisy. Every time something with Daisy comes up, I get a notification on my phone.”

  Her hand plunged into her pocket. Her hot-pink fingernails jabbed at her phone before she scrolled up and put the phone in my face. “Look at her hair. As flat as a flitter and my jewels around her neck.” She shoved the phone so close to my face, I had to lean back to let the photo come into focus. “What happened to my jewels from the time your Aunt Maxi took her to the time she killed her?”

  I pushed the phone away from my f
ace, grabbed the apron, and tied the apron around me as I walked over to the fireplace to flip its gas logs on.

  “Aunt Maxi didn’t kill Daisy. Someone shot them both, and it’s been proven it wasn’t from any gun Aunt Maxi owns, or Rodney Crenshaw.” On my way back to the counter, I made sure the tea station had been properly set up before Becca had left last night after she closed.

  Then I flipped on all the coffee makers and headed straight back to the kitchen. I gave the swinging door a little more oomph, letting it give some extra swings so Loretta knew I meant business.

  “You can’t deny that Maxi had something on her mind.” She shoved that darn phone back in my face, only this time, Aunt Maxi and Daisy were having a good ole time with big smiles on their faces. “Did she steal my jewels?”

  “Aunt Maxi?” I laughed. “Heavens no. Look at her. She’s Bohemian. She’d rather wear faux leather and feathers than diamonds.” The images of my eccentric aunt popped into my head. Sadness swept over me. I tried to cover my face by grabbing all the premade frozen treats from the freezer and starting my morning routine.

  “Then why was she with Daisy, and why didn’t she turn her in to the police when she found her?” Loretta asked me a question I’d been asking myself all night long.

  “I can’t answer that. But when Aunt Maxi wakes up—” My voice cracked, and my eyes teared up as I was even thinking of the option that she wouldn’t. “She’ll be able to answer those questions.”

  “Roxy.” Loretta suddenly got a little empathy in her pinky finger and hurried over to me. She took the couple of trays from my hands and put them down. Then, she put an arm around my shoulder. Her eyes were even cloudy. “I’m sorry. I want Maxine to be okay too. I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s too mean to stay down for too long.”

  Both of us laughed through a couple of tears.

  “Low-retta, are you getting soft on me?” I hugged her back and jerked away when I heard a knock at the door. “That must be Spencer.”

  “Why is he here?” She practically took a piggyback ride on me through the doors and out into the coffeehouse.