Bed and Breakfast and Murder (Fiona Fleming Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

by Patti Larsen

  “Listen.” He sounded tired again, worn out. “I do appreciate your help.” Sure he did. “And you’ve broken a few things open for me with your stumbling around that I wouldn’t have managed on my own thanks to the people of this ridiculous town.” So he was frustrated with his new job, was he? Dad grew up here, so I guess it was easier for him. But I knew very well an outsider would be handled rather than welcomed, so he had to be struggling. And that meant I should be showing a little compassion instead of being a pain in his butt. “Ruth and Pete were having business troubles from what I’ve uncovered.” Wow, he was sharing? “Ruth registered three shell companies linked back to her and the nursing home in the last four weeks. She’s been siphoning funds into those accounts. While I can’t use your evidence, it’s clear from what you found she had the means and the motive. But she has an alibi for the night of Pete’s murder.”

  Well, crappy. “What alibi?”

  “Footage taken from the nursing home of her in her office.” He was still talking, amazing.

  “The time code could be altered. She has access to all her own security footage, I assume.” Did that mean there was video of me breaking in? Whoops.

  Crew sighed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. So she’s also smack dab in opportunity.” Finally, we were getting somewhere. “But Fee, I really need you to step back, okay? I’m looking at Ruth right now. And if you alert her to the fact I’m doing so, she could destroy evidence or bolt and we’ll lose her.”

  Honestly, I didn’t care if she was ever persecuted for the murder of her brother. They were both vile creatures who deserved what they got and karma had a way of sneaking up on you and smacking you down. So I felt a great sense of relief as I smiled into the phone, hoping he could hear the expression in my voice.

  “I’m done,” I said. “Go get her, tiger.”

  Crew laughed, shaky and weary. “I’m not going to survive this job,” he said. “Or you Flemings. But I’m going to try.” And he hung up.

  I turned, a huge weight lifting from my shoulders as Daisy waved goodbye to the departing guests before spinning to ward me with her eyes huge and full lips parted in anticipation.

  I hugged her, bouncing a little, so happy to have everything wrapped up. Daisy giggled and let me go while I bent to pat Petunia on the head and she panted at me in obvious happiness.

  “Good news?” Daisy’s smile was infectious.

  “The best,” I said.

  She handed me a long, white envelope. A quick glance at the label said Wilkins Construction, Inc. A faint frown pulled at the line between my eyes, but when I ripped it open, heart beating a little too fast, I found a beaming smile replaced it while I skimmed the contents.

  “Jared,” I said, moisture rimming my eyes, making it hard to read his signature. And the details. But I caught enough to look up at Daisy and hug the letter to my chest. “He signed Petunia’s back to me,” I whispered. “With his thanks.” And tracked the funds Ryan placed in the account under my name, all the way back to him and his firm.

  Daisy squealed so loud I flinched and then hugged me until my ribs creaked while my pug—as much as I was her human—barked and spun in happy circles as if she understood completely just how awesome this moment turned out to be.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Dad’s smile told me everything I needed to know, Mom hugging me around the shoulders before offering Petunia another slice of banana. It disappeared down the pug’s throat while I continued to beam as I had since the moment I opened Jared’s letter.

  “He said if I ever decide to sell, let him know,” I told them. “But fake signature or not, he’s not contesting anything and just wants to clean up his father’s mess.”

  “Jared’s always been a good kid,” Dad said.

  “And poor Aundrea and Pamela.” Mom tsked as she wiped her fingers from the last of the banana while Petunia managed to look starving despite her portly figure. “How horrible for both of them.” She patted my hand. “I went to school with the girls and it was honestly no secret.”

  “Well, Aundrea clearly thought it was a big deal,” I said.

  Dad sat back, arms crossing over his chest. “You say Crew already knew I’d been out of town?”

  I winked at him. “Guess he’s okay at doing his job after all, Dad.”

  My father grunted. “We’ll see.”

  After a slice of celebratory apple pie Mom insisted on baking, I wandered home again with Petunia huffing beside me, her round belly full of scraps I wished my parents hadn’t fed her. They wouldn’t have to deal with her flatulence later.

  “Okay, here’s the new rules,” I told her. “You can sleep on the bed, but no more stuff that’s bad for you. Or my nose.” She waddled and panted and didn’t argue. “And I promise I’ll take you on more walks and try not to leave you home so much.”

  That seemed to suit her just fine.

  My only job remaining? Call a lawyer. Because thanks to Jared’s information, it was time to kick Ryan’s ass all the way to prison. That would make this entire mess wrap up in the very best way possible.

  The B&B was quiet when I got back, Mary and Betty in the kitchen as I poked my head inside. They both looked up, flinched, glanced away again. At least there weren’t any more stares or glares or accusatory looks. But I really needed to talk to them and was finally in the mood to do it.

  No time like the present, right?

  “Ladies.” I unhooked Petunia’s harness but she just sat on my feet anyway and didn’t leave me while I spoke. “I think we got off to a bad start. I swept in here after Grandmother Iris died with no idea what I was doing and put all of the weight on your shoulders.” I really didn’t think I had, but if I’d learned anything it was sugar went down easier than vinegar. And the way they both perked seemed to confirm I was on the right track. “I appreciate so much the fact you kept this place running when she was so ill and even after her death without thanks or anyone to support you.” That much was true and they both nodded, their sullen anger seemed gone at last. Wicked. Was I really on a roll? “I want you to know you both do an amazing job and I’m so glad you’re here to help me.” I surprised myself when I realized I wasn’t bending the truth to make them feel better. Sure, their attitudes weren’t the best, but this place ran like clockwork, to the point I really didn’t have the kind of headaches I’d thought might come up. “Okay, your turn,” I said. “Because I want to hear what you have to say.”

  Betty poked her sister and, as per their arrangement, Mary spoke. “We were afraid you were going to fire us,” she said. And they both burst into tears.

  Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting and was so close to the truth it hit me like a ton of very heavy bricks. Petunia ambled forward while I rushed to them and hugged the pair of them, heart breaking. I guided the older ladies onto stools and squeezed their hands, while they snuffled and bobbed their gray heads.

  “We adored your grandmother,” Mary said, wiping at her round cheeks. “And when she fell ill, we did everything we could to make sure Petunia’s stayed up to her level of excellence while she was sick.”

  I nodded. “You did a great job.”

  “Then she died.” That last word came out as a wail while Betty sobbed twice before falling still. “And you came. And we didn’t know you and you were so quick and irritated and out of sorts and we didn’t know what to do.”

  Totally a fair assessment. I’d barged in here like a house on fire, wanting to prove something to myself. And made them miserable.

  “Can we agree to start again?” I looked back and forth between them. “I love it here, I never thought I would. And I’m so happy to tell you Jared Wilkins cancelled the claim on this place, so we’re good to go.”

  They both lurched toward me and hugged me so fast I staggered back, Petunia barking her delight while they crushed me in their strong arms. Wow, they were a powerful pair for old ladies. I needed to stop underestimating them.

  “That’
s wonderful, Fiona,” Mary said, smiling through her tears. Then paused, looked down at her hands while Betty patted her back. “You’re not going to fire us, then?” She peeked up at me through her wet lashes, her perfect bun falling loose in places from the enthusiasm of her hug.

  “Why would I do that?” I embraced them both in turn and resigned myself to the fact I’d have them here no matter what. “I need you two. For as long as you want to stay.” And paused. “But, I need to know you have my back. And that a few changes I’d like to make won’t be cause for rebellion.”

  A short staff meeting commenced where I outlined my plans to take full advantage of how busy things were. That a lunch and early afternoon tea menu would lure our guests home again. The two were so bubbly excited I half expected Betty to talk. Yeah, no such luck. But we parted as friends, my heart lighter than it had been in years. Well, if I was going to be honest, than it had been my entire life. I ducked downstairs to my apartment for a few minutes to catch my breath and take the time I needed to absorb just how awesome my life had suddenly become.

  From cheated on ex-girlfriend who fled her old existence and almost lost her future to a swindling dead guy to happy B&B owner with her whole future ahead of her.

  I’d take it.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  The shoe box Peggy brought me caught my eye, lured me in. I sat at the island in my kitchen, looking at last through the rest of the contents, at the photos of them as girls together, more memorabilia from trips they’d taken, from their time at school. At the bottom, tucked into a corner, sat a cute little toy that squeaked endearingly when I squeezed its small ducky body.

  “Cookie must have accidentally sent us a gift,” I smiled at Petunia whose head cocked to the side at the sound. “I’d give it to you but you’d wreck it in about two seconds.” She loved to chew anything she could get her teeth on, and I’d lost enough shoes my first few days to prove it. “Let’s run this over to Peggy and Cookie, shall we? I’m sure they’d love to have it back.” And see us. It seemed like perfect timing to go have tea now that I was on the right track.

  Instead of going out the front door and around the sidewalk, I exited out the back, into the garden and to the fence. It wasn’t hard to find the space between the carriage house and the wooden slats of the barrier where Peggy and Cookie slipped through so the little dog could crap in my bushes. It seemed so petty now, the fact I’d ever intended to say a word about it. Let Cookie poop. She was in good Petunia company and her crap was way smaller than the pug’s, after all.

  Peggy’s back yard was a bit overgrown, less English country garden than mine and more gone off on its own accord. I followed the path to the back door, grinning to myself as I glanced to the right and spotted the small set of steps next to the fence. And now I knew what she stood on to talk to me over the barrier. Dedicated neighbor, you betcha.

  She’d be shocked to find me coming through here. This would be all I’d have to do to tip her off. She’d know I knew about Cookie’s poop trips and we’d have a laugh at the joke. A whimsical sense of goodwill washed through me while Petunia paused on the porch and stared suddenly, panting halted, head tilted and a low growl escaping her.

  I hesitated at her reaction and only then heard voices coming from inside. I stared through the back door into Peggy’s kitchen, caught sight down the hall of two people, one tiny and slim, the other hulking over her and lurched for the handle, jerking it open.

  It didn’t occur to me to worry about what I was walking into, not when Peggy, Cookie nowhere to be seen, turned with her lined face pale in shock as Ruth Wilkins raised one hand to her.

  Thank goodness I’d brought my cell phone, fishing it out of my back pocket and dialing 9-1-1 for the second time in less than a week. Peggy sobbed, hunching forward, arms rising to protect herself from the big woman’s threatening blow.

  “Don’t touch her,” I snarled, phone still ringing, damn it. “I’m calling the police.”

  Ruth laughed, booming and obscene. “You have no idea what you’re doing,” she growled. “Get out of here and mind your own business.”

  “Not so good at that,” I shot back. Petunia woofed, scuttling sideways, her big body turning then to face us while she growled softly, and only then did I spot poor shaking Cookie tucked under the kitchen table behind the pug who protected her with her bulky body. No one answered the emergency call while Ruth lumbered toward me. I hit redial but my finger slipped and instead called Crew.

  Well, probably a good thing.

  I heard him pick up as I shouted at Ruth. “Don’t come any closer. And leave Peggy Munroe alone, Ruth Wilkins.”

  She grunted herself to a halt, stared down at the cell phone in my hand, scowled at me then. Surely Crew got the hint? Meanwhile, the looming woman leaned in toward me, her beady eyes the same as her brother’s but a threat in her expression so powerful I was sure, now, she’d killed Pete and probably in cold blood.

  “Please, Ruth, just go. I don’t have anything for you, I swear.” Peggy met my eyes, her hands fumbling for something by the kitchen door. “You and Peter were always my favorite grandnephew and niece, you know that.” They were what?

  Ruth boomed another laugh, spinning on her elderly great aunt. “You old bat,” she snapped. “Pete might have fallen for your kindly old lady act, but I didn’t.” She ignored me this time, heading for Peggy whose hands had stilled, grasping something I couldn’t see while I tucked my phone into my pocket and prepared to leap on her back to keep her away from my neighbor. “Now, tell me where it is. I know it’s here somewhere.”

  Before I could react, Peggy shrieked like a banshee and swung, her old arms shaking, the cane she’d grasped from its place by the door impacting the sides of Ruth’s knees. The big woman shouted in shock and fell sideways, hitting her head on the counter before collapsing to the floor, her eyes rolling back into her head.

  For a brief instant Peggy looked triumphant, like a hunter who’d finally downed her prey. Then, she dropped the cane and burst into tears, her hands over her face. I hurried to her, circling Ruth’s unconscious body, hugging the dear old lady to me while she clung to me and trembled.

  “They were threatening me,” she whispered. “Wanted my house, to put me in the nursing home.” She met my eyes, hers bloodshot and her face drawn and ashen from her ordeal. “I was so afraid. You saved me, Fee.”

  I laughed shakily as a siren wailed closer, the cavalry on the way. “I think you saved yourself, Peggy. Thinking about taking up baseball?”

  We giggled together in near hysteria as the front door at the end of the hall burst open and Crew and Robert rushed in. Too late to help, but still welcome. The wide eyed stare he gave me could have been respect or accusation, but I couldn’t care less which.

  “Book her, Crew,” I said, nodding at the fallen Wilkins. “Attempted assault of her own great auntie.”

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  I sat with Peggy who rocked Cookie in her lap, the little bow on the top of her head gone missing in the fracas. Petunia perched on Peggy’s other side, nudging the nervous little dog every once in a while with her wet nose. Crew and Robert talked at the entry to the sitting room while a stretcher wheeled past, Ruth’s silent form laid out on it as the paramedics took her away.

  “Still out cold,” Crew said, nodding to Peggy. “You’re okay, Mrs. Munroe?”

  “I will be, dear,” she said, patting my hand that rested on her arm, “with help and time. Horrible woman. She and Peter, too.” She shuddered. “I don’t know what happened to those two to make them so hateful. They were my Daniel’s family, you know. There was a time I would have loved to call them my own. We weren’t blessed with children, you see.” She wept then, leaning on my shoulder. “I’ve been so afraid of them for so long, it’s lovely to know they’re gone.”

  “You said they were looking for something?” Crew hesitated, waited.

  Peggy looked up, snuffling, nodded. “T
hey were searching for the deed to my house,” she said. “Going on about power of attorney and how I can’t take care of myself anymore.” Sounded familiar enough, though their own blood didn’t warrant a fake signature, just a snatch and grab. I guess she showed them. Or Ruth, anyway. I know I wouldn’t want to mess with her. “I can show you.” She made as if to move but fell back into the cushions, weak and shaking.

  “That’s all right,” Crew said. “You can share details with me later. Why did they want the deed?”

  Like he didn’t know. Still, I suppose he had to ask. Peggy shrugged, sagging into me. “To steal my property from me and put me in the home for good. Peter was at least kind about it even though he was a terrible fraud. But Ruth, she is a bully.” The old lady’s jaw set. “They tried to steal Petunia’s from Iris, did you know that?”

  I loved her outrage. “All taken care of.”

  She exhaled her relief. “I know, that young Jared. Nothing like his father.” She nodded abruptly. “I’m pressing charges, blood or no blood.”

  “Of course.” Crew met my eyes, his widening slightly as if trying to deliver a message. “Maybe after you get checked out at the hospital Fee can bring you to the station to file a report.”

  “I’m fine, dear, really,” she said. “I don’t need a doctor. She didn’t get to touch me. Not with Fee barging in like my hero.” She smiled at me, tremulous and sad. “Thank you, dear.”

  “Any time,” I said, “but hopefully never again.”

  “Amen to that.”

  Crew left, Robert with him, the paramedics gone with Ruth in the back of the ambulance. I hugged Peggy around the shoulders, feeling the quiet of her house settle around us, the faint ticking of the big clock in her foyer counting the seconds that stretched into the afternoon.

  “Can I make you some tea, Peggy?” I needed to do something, the tension of the last little while making me antsy to release the adrenaline buildup.