Diet Club Death: Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mystery #3 (Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries)

by Brianna Bates

  She wanted him to hug her, but instead he gave her a little wave and hurried out. She watched him jog across the street and jump into the passenger seat of the ambulance as its siren began to sound. Then they were pulling out, the fire engine not far behind.

  There was nothing wrong with Aaron. In fact, there was everything right. She’d just overlooked him all these years because she’d been so focused on Tyler, or on replacing Tyler…she’d never given Aaron a fair shake, had she?

  ***

  Missy stopped home to let Cody out and feed her. She wanted to talk to both Abella and Mrs. Butterworth, but it was late in the workday so she doubted the attorney would take any unplanned meetings at this point. She’d gotten Mrs. Butterworth’s number from Karen and she tried calling the older woman but nobody answered. Briefly Missy considered just driving over, but she had no way of knowing when Mrs. Butterworth would be home. She was very rich and might have been staying for all Missy knew at her lake house or with family. Maybe she needed to get away from the estate for a few days after Karen’s death.

  That left her with Ron and Connie. She didn’t have Ronnie’s number or address so that kind of settled that question.

  She called Noreen.

  “How are you doing, Miss?”

  “Okay,” she lied. “I just wanted somebody to know where I was going tonight. In case something happens.”

  “Oh my God, could you be any more ominous? And I’m glad I count just as somebody and not your best friend of all time.”

  Missy laughed. “I’m going over Connie’s.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Noreen said. “I got a weird vibe from her.”

  Missy nodded. “I’ll take Cody.”

  “The dog did save your life once.”

  “Hey…” Missy wanted to get Noreen’s opinion of Aaron. She was always joking about the man’s constant advances on Missy, but Missy had no idea what she really thought of him.

  “Now that was a pregnant pause.” Noreen laughed. “What is it?”

  Missy shook her head. She really shouldn’t be thinking about a relationship at a time like this, especially when she somewhat doubted her own feelings.

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t BS a BS-er,” Noreen said.

  “Let’s talk later, okay?”

  Chapter Ten

  Connie was waiting for her on the porch of her nice two-story home that looked pretty new. Missy couldn’t help but feel jealous. She loved her house, but it was old and falling apart, and paying the mortgage and taxes was always a struggle.

  “Hi, Missy,” Connie said.

  Missy got out of her truck and opened the passenger door for Cody. The Irish Setter bounded out and zipped across Connie’s lawn to greet the other woman.

  Connie’s face lit up. “And who is this?”

  “Cody,” Missy said, joining them on the porch. Connie was bent over and lavishing affection on the dog, who had already turned over on her back.

  “What a nice dog,” Connie said.

  Missy nodded. “She’s a great dog. She actually saved my life.”

  “Saved your life?” Connie asked, coming back up to her full height. “Now that sounds like a story.”

  Missy smiled. The woman was behaving differently tonight. She was much less guarded or challenging than she’d been at the Diet Club meeting and the viewing.

  “Great place you’ve got here.”

  Connie smiled back. “Thank you. Would you like to come in?”

  Missy followed her inside. Everything looked new and what was a few years old was well-maintained. It was a far, far cry from how Missy kept her house. She usually had two baskets of laundry on her sofa and at least two layers of dirty dishes in her sink.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

  Missy was instantly on her guard. She’d read up online about how people ingested tape worms. There were actually pills that people purchased. All you had to do was crush them and spill the powder into a drink.

  She remembered to smile. “Normally, I’d say yes. But my stomach’s a little upset so I better not.”

  “Water then?”

  “I’ll get it,” Missy said, pushing past her as they entered the kitchen. “Where are the glasses?”

  “Uh.” Connie eyed her strangely. “Over the sink in the cabinet.”

  Missy pulled out two glasses and poured herself water out of the tap.

  “How about something to eat? I was thinking of ordering a pizza.” Connie smiled. “As always, I revert to food in a time of crisis.”

  Missy smiled, knowing exactly what she meant. How many times had she done the same? But she didn’t trust this woman, at least not yet.

  “No thanks, I had a big lunch at the diner.” That made her think of Aaron, and Missy caught herself wondering what he was doing.

  “The Grove City diner? I love that place. Their chicken pot pie—”

  “—is the best,” Missy filled in.

  Connie laughed. It was the first time Missy had heard her laugh. It was a big, loud sound, almost a guffaw. She sized the other woman up. Connie was wearing stretch pants and a t-shirt and almost looked like she’d been exercising.

  Missy poured Connie a glass of water and they sat down at the kitchen table. Cody made herself right at home. She spun around three times and sat right under Connie’s feet. Cody was a good judge of character, Missy reminded herself.

  “So what do you do, Missy?” Connie asked.

  Missy wasn’t really here to make chitchat or small talk, but she knew she had to ease into this conversation if she didn’t want Connie to put any walls up.

  “I work at Books and Crannies, have you ever been in there?”

  Connie thought about it. “Once or twice. I’m not really a big reader. I prefer the visual arts.”

  “I’m a total bookworm,” Missy said, as if confessing some great, horrible crime. “But I love movies too.”

  Connie sipped her water and reached down to rub Cody’s head.

  Missy nodded at her. “How about you? What do you do for work?”

  Connie put her glass of water down. “Karen didn’t tell you?”

  Missy frowned. Connie had grown instantly defensive.

  “She didn’t.”

  Connie looked at her. “Well, I told you I’m into visual arts.”

  Missy had no idea where this was going. But whatever Connie did, it must have been lucrative. This was a nice house and she apparently owned it by herself.

  Connie said, “Adult entertainment.”

  Missy nearly dropped her glass of water. If Connie had given her one thousand guesses, Missy wouldn’t have guessed that.

  Connie laughed. “Typical reaction.”

  “You mean…porn?” Missy couldn’t believe it. Connie was very pretty, actually she was beautiful with her blond hair and nice jawline and blue eyes. But she was also significantly overweight.

  Then again, plenty of guys were into that. She’d met a couple self-styled “chubby chasers” in her years.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking.” Connie got out of her seat. “Would you like to see?”

  “Uh…”

  Connie put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t mean my videos. I just mean my room.”

  “I’m really confused.”

  Cody got up and wagged her tail. At least the dog was comfortable around Connie.

  “I don’t have sex with anyone. It’s just me on a webcam. Do you understand?”

  It took Missy a moment to get it. “Voyeurs?”

  Connie nodded. “It’s pretty exhilarating actually.”

  Missy shuddered at the thought of random, anonymous guys watching her undress and…do other things. “No offense, but it sounds pretty horrible to me. It’s difficult enough having one man see me without any clothes on…”

  Connie laughed. “It’s easier than you think. You don’t see the guys. It doesn’t bother me.”

  Missy hadn’t expected such a bizarre turn of
events. When it came to men and sex, Karen had been kind of a prude also…Missy couldn’t fathom these two being friends. Unless it was a case of opposites attracting.

  “How could it not bother you?”

  Connie shrugged. “It helps to be a lesbian.”

  ***

  Missy had listened for a few minutes while Connie explained the business, how she’d gotten into it, how she managed her website, how it was a great way to make money for real or even just on the side. The whole time she basically encouraged Missy to give it a try, without coming and saying it.

  “So how are you feeling?” Missy asked, hoping to steer the conversation back to Karen.

  Connie put her glass of water down. “If we’re going to talk about this, I need something stronger to drink. Are you sure I can’t get you some wine?”

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” Missy said.

  Connie went into the kitchen. “One minute I’m fine, the next I’m in tears.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Missy said.

  Connie returned with a glass of white wine that was filled to the brim. She sat back down on the couch across from Missy. For a moment they sat in silence as Connie’s eyes fastened on Missy.

  Finally, Connie said, “Okay, we might as well get it out in the open. What did Karen tell you?”

  Missy almost told her the truth, that Karen hadn’t told her anything about Connie. But she realized that might not get her anywhere.

  “Everything,” Missy said.

  Connie nodded. “I’m surprised. But hats off to you. You really acted like you didn’t know what was going on.”

  Missy couldn’t believe what she was going to say next. “How long were you two together?”

  Connie took a big gulp of wine. “Off and on ever since she and Ron broke up.”

  Missy almost choked on her water. She’d always thought she was close to Karen, but apparently not. Her friend had kept this from her for that long?

  “It was difficult for her,” Connie said. “Karen struggled with her sexual identity.”

  “You mean she was in the closet?”

  Connie put her wine down on a coaster. “Missy, she didn’t even know there was a closet for her at first.”

  Missy saw she had the perfect segue. All along she’d been planning on using Ron as her excuse for coming over.

  “And what about Ron?”

  Connie grew serious. “Don’t get me started on that man.”

  “Too late.” Missy smiled. “I already did.”

  “I don’t want to talk about him, Missy. Okay?”

  Missy knew she should let it go and decided to. Temporarily. “Sorry. I just never knew much about him till today.”

  “What do you mean?” Connie picked up her wine and tried to act naturally, but Missy could tell she was hiding something.

  “He broke up with her. I didn’t know that.”

  “He told you that?”

  Missy sat forward. “Was he lying?”

  Connie sipped her wine. “So he told you half the story.”

  “What’s the other half?” Missy was intrigued. She couldn’t help but feel she was onto something here, even though it still didn’t make sense that Ron would infect his ex-fiancee with tape worms.

  Connie leaned back against the couch, glass of wine in her hand. “Yes, he broke off the engagement. But he never broke off the relationship.”

  Now Missy was really confused. “They still saw each other.”

  “No.” Connie squeezed her eye shut and rubbed her eyebrows, like she was getting a headache. “But the relationship never ended. They kept talking.”

  “Connie, she was my friend too,” Missy said. “I’m just trying to understand what happened.”

  “What happened is she died from tape worms.” Connie made a disgusted face.

  “That’s like only telling half the story,” Missy said, throwing Connie’s expression back at her.

  Connie frowned. “Why are you here?”

  “I told you.”

  “You told me, but I think you lied.”

  Missy knew she was a bad liar, and now that Connie had her defenses up Missy knew this conversation was almost over.

  “I don’t believe for one second that Karen gave herself tape worms.”

  She watched Connie’s expression shift from neutral, to ponderous, to guarded. “You think somebody gave her tape worms?”

  “That’s exactly what I think. And right now you’re telling me that Ron was still in her life. I know they had jealousy issues.”

  Connie gave her a rueful smirk. “They did.”

  Missy was about to ask her next question, but Connie’s last answer threw her for a loop. “They both did?”

  Connie tilted her head to the side. “I don’t know about him.”

  Missy paused. All along she’d been thinking that Ron had been the jealous type. But remembering what Karen had always said, now she wasn’t so sure.

  Karen had always said they had jealousy issues. Had she been obscuring the fact that it was her jealousy issue and not Ron’s?

  Missy stared at Connie, willing her to open up. “How about you two? You had obviously broken up before she died.”

  “Obviously?”

  “I saw you arguing at the Diet Club. Now I know why.”

  “You think I gave her tape worms because we broke up?”

  “Who did the breaking up?”

  “Me.” Connie said, very quickly.

  “I don’t believe you. You said Karen was struggling with her sexuality, which means she was the more likely to break it off.”

  Connie shook her head. “Exactly the opposite. I’ve been a lesbian for awhile, so I know that life is too short to wait around and see if someone is going to finally declare themselves a homosexual. I couldn’t wait forever.”

  “So you tossed her aside?” Missy asked. “Then what was your argument about?”

  Connie stood. Conversation over. “I’d like you to leave now.”

  “Answer my question.”

  Connie moved quickly and pinched Missy’s shoulder. A shock wave of pain jolted down her arm and into her neck.

  “Self-defense classes.”

  Cody started growling and Missy knew the dog was about to spring.

  “No, Cody!” Missy commanded through clenched teeth.

  Cody stopped growling, but her hair was still standing up on end. Connie realized the dog was closing to ripping her arm off, so she let Missy go.

  “Get out of my house before I call the police.”

  Missy didn’t need to be told twice. Paul Johnson of the Templeton police department would probably throw the book at her for intruding on Connie like this.

  “Come on, Cody.”

  The dog relaxed and came to her side.

  “I don’t want to ever see you again,” Connie said. “Karen was right about you.”

  Missy was halfway across the room when Connie’s last words stopped her cold.

  “What?”

  Connie peered at her but kept her distance. “She said you’d never understand. That’s why she never told you.”

  Missy was so angry she was seeing red. “Connie, if you did this to her, I’m going to find out. Mark my words.”

  She left before Connie said anything else.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next day Missy was at work, puzzling over next steps in the investigation. All the revelations from yesterday just had her more confused than ever.

  Ron had called off the engagement with Karen, who had then started seeing Connie. From the sound of it, it was Karen’s first homosexual relationship. It saddened Missy to think Karen hadn’t been comfortable enough to share this part about herself with Missy. Apparently, Ron hadn’t been the jealous one. Instead, that had been Karen. And while Karen had dated Connie, Ron and Karen had kept in touch. Was that why Connie had broken up with Karen, because she was literally or figuratively cheating on her with her ex-fiance, Ron?

  Missy’s h
ead was spinning with all the details.

  After a slow morning, her boss Brett excused himself for an early lunch, leaving Missy all alone in the store. They had tidied the shelves already this morning and there were no customers in the store, so Missy had nothing to do but think. She was about to call her mother, but her phone rang unexpectedly, causing her to shriek.

  Laughing nervously, she checked the caller ID and saw who it was. She steeled herself for what could an unpleasant conversation.

  “Hi, Mrs. Butterworth.”

  “Hello, Melissa. I got your message. I’m just returning your call.”

  Missy hadn’t been expecting to hear back from the older woman. She hadn’t given this conversation enough thought or planning.

  “Hello?” Mrs. Butterworth said impatiently. “What can I help you with, Missy?”

  “My friend just died, lady,” Missy said. “I’m only asking for a few minutes of your time.”

  “Your friend. Yes.” Her voice was icy cold, which confirmed Missy’s fear.

  “It was Karen, wasn’t it?” Missy asked.

  Mrs. Butterworth drew in a deep breath. “I believe so, but now we’ll never know.”

  Missy closed her eyes. She’d been hoping to hear the opposite because she wanted to start ruling suspects out. But this new information just complicated her investigation.

  “Why do you think Karen was the one who broke trust and revealed the identity of a member of your Diet Club?” Missy asked.

  “I don’t know you from Eve,” Mrs. Butterworth said.

  Missy thought back to the night of the meeting. The older woman had asked for the guilty person to stand up and accept responsibility for breaking one of the rules of the club. That had been at the beginning of the meeting, and as far as Missy knew the only person not in the room at the time had been Karen.

  Missy didn’t think Mrs. Butterworth had infected Karen with tape worms as part of some revenge scheme, because it was overkill. Mrs. Butterworth could have just expelled her from the club. Looking at it another way, if Mrs. Butterworth had been crazy enough to infect Karen with tape worms, she would not have admitted later to knowing Karen had spilled the beans on somebody. It would have been admitting to having a motive.