Gelato with a Side of Murder

by Meredith Potts

  Once again, I found myself staring down an uncertain future, all the while having to look over my shoulder. At the same time, I wasn’t about to let Kelly’s ominous words cripple me.

  I went on with my day. A few hours later, I finished up my work shift and met up with David for supper. We had a wonderful meal, the kind of delicious steak dinner that could only be topped by a scrumptious bowl of gelato. Much to my taste buds’ delight, I made quick work of a delectable order of chocolate ice cream at Luigi’s Gelato. After such a sweet treat, Kelly’s words of warning were pushed to the back of my mind.

  That was exactly where they stayed until the following day when I took my pet corgi, Snickerdoodle, out for a morning walk.

  The little stumpy ball of cuteness was busy sniffing every tree, fire hydrant, and light pole in the neighborhood when my phone rang. I checked the caller identification screen, saw Kelly’s name on it, and took the call.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  Kelly’s voice took on a frantic tone as she replied over the phone line. “Sabrina, I need your help. Something terrible has happened.”

  “Kelly, what’s the matter?”

  “You need to come over here right now.”

  “Why? Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  “I can’t believe it. How could something like this happen?”

  “Something like what?” I asked. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “She’s not breathing. She’s…dead,” Kelly said.

  I scrunched my nose. “Wait. Who is?”

  Kelly didn’t respond. A silence took hold of the conversation. When a few more seconds went by without my friend replying, I opened my mouth to speak up.

  Finally, before I was able to get any words out, Kelly answered. “Delilah.”

  A queasiness came to my stomach. I put my hand on my belly, but it didn’t stop me from feeling like I was about to throw up. Thankfully, I was able to take a few deep breaths and muster some resolve.

  Kelly kept talking. “Her body is on the ground. There’s a big crystal block on the floor beside her that has a blood stain on it.”

  I opened my mouth again to express my sympathies, but no words came out. What a time for my tongue to get tied.

  Kelly became tired of waiting for me to reply. “Sabrina, are you there?”

  Finally, words came to me. “Yeah. I just can’t believe it. Where are you?”

  “At the crystal shop.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”

  Chapter Ten

  On my drive over to the crystal shop, I called David and told him everything that Kelly had said to me. My boyfriend told me that he would meet me there.

  I ended up arriving at the crystal shop first. When I pulled up in front of the store, I spotted Kelly standing out front, wiping tears from her eyes. I got out of my car, rushed over to my friend, and gave her a big hug.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  Kelly held me tight but did not say a word. When I went to pull back from the hug, she pulled my body toward her again.

  “Don’t let go,” she said.

  “Look. I’m here for you, but I need to see what happened.”

  Reluctantly, she let me go. I pulled back and turned my focus to the crystal shop. The front door was cracked open. I slowly entered the shop, careful not to move or touch anything.

  I only had to take one step inside the shop before I spotted Delilah’s body on the ground. Just like Kelly had told me over the phone, a big, paperweight-sized, bloodstained crystal was on the floor beside the corpse. The crystal probably weighed in at about ten pounds, making it an ideal object to use as a murder weapon.

  David arrived at the shop a few minutes later. I brought him up to speed then let him begin investigating the scene while I walked out to the parking lot to console Kelly.

  At least, that was the plan. In reality, despite my attempt to comfort Kelly, my friend was a complete wreck. My sympathetic words were no match for the sobbing that she was doing.

  A hug did little to calm her nerves. That wasn’t surprising to me. After all, death was a difficult thing to grapple with, especially when someone had not seen many corpses in their life. As it was, even with all the murder investigations that I had taken part in, the sight of a dead body was still shocking to me.

  Kelly’s body was shaking as her thoughts came out in a stream-of-conscious fashion. “This is so tragic. How could something like this happen?”

  “I don’t know, but David will get to the bottom of this,” I replied.

  “Delilah had such a generous soul. What kind of person would do something like this to her?”

  “I’m sorry. I wish I had an answer for you.”

  “Sabrina. We both know there is only one answer. A crazy person, that’s who.”

  “I can’t argue with that.”

  She groaned. “I can’t believe this. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know. It’s really difficult to stomach.”

  “Mostly since it could have been prevented.” She gritted her teeth. “Honestly, it probably should have been stopped.”

  I crinkled my nose. “What are you talking about?”

  “My vision. The one with you and Delilah in it. I thought you were the one who was in danger. But it was Delilah who I should have been concerned about.”

  “Kelly, I know what you’re thinking, and you can’t beat yourself up about this—”

  She cut me off. “How could I not? I made a deadly mistake.” She grimaced. “How could I have been so wrong?”

  I waggled my pointer finger at her. “Don’t do this to yourself. You didn’t know this was going to happen.”

  “You say that, but my gut was trying to tell me—to warn me that something awful was about to occur.”

  “True, but your gut was also awfully short on specifics. You can’t blame yourself for a murder that someone else committed.”

  She let out a sigh. “Look. I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it’s going to take a lot more than comforting words to do that.”

  “Trust me, I know that in times of tragedy, words can only do so much,” I said. “But I also know that beating yourself up won’t get you anywhere, either.”

  The sad look in Kelly’s eyes disappeared and was replaced with anger. “Sabrina, you have to promise me something.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I need you to find out who did this.”

  My heart grew heavy. I had been there before. Staring down a tragedy. Faced with an intense yearning for justice. Not being able to breathe easy until the guilty party was behind bars. Ignoring my feelings when they needed my attention the most. That was why I didn’t want Kelly to go through the same thing I had.

  “You just lost your friend. It’s important that you grieve,” I said.

  “You’re right. But it’s also important that the person who did this to Delilah be put behind bars for the rest of their life,” Kelly said. “Until her killer is caught, I can’t grieve. That’s why I need you to promise me that her murderer won’t get away with this.”

  I stared long and hard into her eyes. “I’m certainly going to do everything in my power to bring Delilah’s killer to justice.”

  “Good.” Kelly grabbed the crystal necklace that she was wearing and began to take it off. “Here. You need this now more than ever.”

  “Kelly—” I started to reply.

  “Don’t say no.” She removed the necklace and handed it to me. “Sinister forces are out there. You need all the protection that you can get, astral or otherwise.”

  “All right,” I said.

  “May the stars watch out for you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The medical examiner and a number of police deputies arrived on the scene a short time later. Before long, the area was cordoned off with yellow tape. While David waited for the medical examiner to finish taking a look at the body, he asked Kelly to prov
ide him with an official statement.

  Kelly was still shaken. “Oh. Okay. Do you need it right now?”

  “I know it’s a very difficult time for you, but it’s important that I get as much information as I can.”

  “All right. I’m afraid there’s not much to tell you,” she replied.

  “You say that, but sometimes the smallest of details can lead to a big break in a case,” he replied.

  “If you say so. What do you want to know exactly?” Kelly asked.

  “Walk me through the events that led to you finding Delilah’s body,” he said.

  Kelly took a deep breath. “Well, I got here about half an hour ago. You see, I had an appointment to get my aura cleansed this morning.”

  David’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

  Kelly nodded. “Yeah. Unfortunately, it looks like Delilah was the one who really needed to have her aura cleansed.” She took a deep breath.

  “When you got here, did you see anyone around?” David asked.

  She shook her head. “No. There was only one car in the parking lot. I’m guessing it was Delilah’s.”

  “Probably,” he said. “So you got here, saw one car in the parking lot, then what happened?”

  “I walked up to the front door and went inside the shop. That’s when I saw…”

  Kelly couldn’t finish her sentence.

  David attempted to fill in the blanks.

  “Delilah’s body?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Was she already deceased when you found her?” he asked.

  She nodded again. “Uh-huh. At first, I hoped that maybe she was just unconscious. But when I rushed over to check on her, she wasn’t breathing at all.”

  He looked at her with sympathetic eyes. “I’m very sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as I am. All the memory eraser enchantments in the world won’t make me forget that horrifying image.”

  “Again, you have my sympathies,” David said. “Just a few more questions and we’ll be done. Now, are you certain that you didn’t see anyone around when you arrived?”

  “I’m positive,” Kelly said.

  “Did you happen to hear anything strange?” he asked.

  Kelly shook her head.

  David winced.

  “I’m sorry. I wish I had more information to give you,” Kelly replied.

  “Don’t worry about it. Now, after you realized that Delilah was dead, what did you do?” he asked.

  “I rushed outside and called Sabrina. I mean, I couldn’t just stay in there. Seeing Delilah’s body made me…” Kelly began to breathe heavily. “It was too much for me to take.”

  “I understand,” David said.

  Kelly winced. “Are we done?”

  “Yes. Thank you for the information. I’ll have a deputy drive you home,” David said.

  Chapter Twelve

  As David spoke with the medical examiner, I looked around the shop for anything odd that stood out. Or, more appropriately, anything bizarre that related to Delilah’s murder. There were certainly plenty of strange objects around the shop. Between the racks of crystals, display cases filled with jewelry and gemstones, and plenty of New Age knickknacks, almost everything that was sold here was out of the ordinary.

  A few minutes later, David finished up with the medical examiner and approached me.

  “What have you got?” I asked.

  “The examiner puts the time of death between nine and ten o’clock last night,” David said.

  I looked at the sign on the front door indicating that the shop closed at nine every night.

  “So the murder took place after hours, then,” I said.

  He nodded.

  “Was forensics able to pull any prints from the murder weapon?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  I groaned. “Of course not.”

  “Although, there are plenty of fingerprints around the shop.”

  “I’ll bet. But they could belong to any number of customers. How about the doorknob? Let me guess. No prints.”

  “None,” he said. “Looks like the killer wiped it clean on the way out.”

  I grimaced. “This killer sure knew how to cover their tracks.”

  “They also chose an interesting murder weapon.”

  “That’s what I thought too. But the truth is, that crystal has to weigh ten or twenty pounds.”

  “That isn’t what I meant,” David said. “Get this. The crystal used to kill Delilah is citrine. It’s known as the prosperity crystal.”

  “Prosperity, huh? Talk about irony. It makes you wonder if the killer knew the meaning behind all the crystals and intentionally decided to use a citrine block to kill Delilah as a cruel joke.”

  “It’s not a bad guess.”

  I scanned the shop. “Of course, if this shop had any security cameras, it would be a lot easier to determine if I’m right.”

  David let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, there isn’t a single camera in this place.”

  “Crazy, huh?”

  “Frustrating is more like it.”

  “Delilah probably counted on a sphere of protection enchantment to keep watch over the place,” I said.

  David’s forehead wrinkled.

  I continued. “It’s one of the wacky services that they provide here.”

  “Oh. Well, clearly this protection enchantment didn’t work.”

  “No. It sure didn’t.”

  “And, since there are no cameras in here, it means we’ll have to solve this case the hard way,” David said.

  I groaned.

  “My sentiments exactly,” David said.

  I winced.

  “So much for life getting back to normal around Treasure Cove,” David said.

  “With all the murders that have taken place here, I have almost forgotten what normal is,” I replied.

  “I know what you mean. And this case appears to be even more unusual than ever.”

  “I don’t disagree.” I took a deep breath. “I guess we should talk about potential suspects.”

  “We should. And I know just who to do that with,” David said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Saffron Conklin had arrived at the shop a few minutes ago. The diminutive, bespectacled, wavy-haired, thirty-seven-year-old was Delilah’s assistant manager here at Treasure Cove Crystals. David had assigned a deputy to follow her around, in search of anything that might be out of sorts with the shop. Now that Saffron had surveyed the entire place, David and I spoke with her.

  “Do you see anything missing, Ms. Conklin? Any crystals, jewelry, or knickknacks?” David asked.

  Saffron nodded. “As a matter of fact, I don’t see Delilah’s logbook.”

  “Logbook? What was in it?” David asked.

  “A list of all the customers who have had enchantments performed on them.”

  “Can you think of any reason why someone would want to steal that?”

  She shook her head. “No. I mean, it’s just a list of names and enchantments. It doesn’t have any value.”

  I scratched my chin. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

  Saffron’s nose crinkled. “What are you talking about?”

  “What if the killer was a current or former customer who was unsatisfied with one of the enchantments that was performed on them? Maybe they took the logbook in hopes of concealing their identity from us,” I replied.

  David bit his lip. “That’s possible.” He focused on Saffron. “Ms. Conklin, can you think of any angry customers who came by the shop recently?”

  “Actually, an irate man happened to storm into the shop just yesterday,” Saffron replied.

  David’s eyebrows rose. “Is that so?”

  Saffron nodded.

  “What was he so upset about?” David asked.

  “An enchantment that Delilah had performed on his ex-girlfriend a few days before,” Saffron said.

  “What kind of enchantment?” David asked.

  “Th
e ex-girlfriend requested a memory eraser enchantment,” Saffron said.

  David held his pointer finger up. “Wait a minute. Memory eraser?”

  Saffron nodded. “The ex-girlfriend wanted her mind scrubbed of every memory she had of her former boyfriend.”

  “But that’s not possible. Memories can’t just be erased,” David said.

  “Detective, you may not believe in the power of the enchantments that are provided here, but our customers certainly do,” Saffron said.

  David rolled his eyes then continued questioning Saffron. “All right. So this guy comes into your shop, all irate about the enchantment you performed on his ex-girlfriend. Then what happened?”

  “Delilah picked up the phone and threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave the shop immediately,” Saffron said. “Thankfully, the man backed away and left the store without further incident.”

  David pulled out a pen and a small pad of paper from his pocket. “This irate guy. Do you happen to know his name?”

  She nodded. “Matt Tilden.”

  “Was Delilah having problems with anyone else? Either personal or professional?” I asked.

  “Well, she was in the middle of a divorce,” Saffron said.

  “That’s a big yes, then,” I said.

  Saffron’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll say.”

  “What’s the name of her estranged husband?” David asked.

  “Justin O’Keefe,” Saffron replied.

  “Do you know why they were getting divorced?” David said.

  Saffron nodded. “Delilah found out that her husband was cheating on her.”

  “No wonder she was divorcing him,” I said.

  “It gets worse,” Saffron said.

  “Oh really?” I asked.

  Saffron nodded.

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Justin was fooling around with Delilah’s sister,” Saffron said.

  My jaw dropped.

  “We’re going to want to pay that sister a visit,” David said.

  “For more reasons than one,” Saffron said.

  “What do you mean?” David asked.

  “Delilah and her sister Harmony had a falling out,” Saffron said.