Craft Circle Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Stacey Alabaster

  Jasper looked up at me, wagging his tail wildly. Hmm. That was interesting. "Look, Jasper agrees. I trust his instincts more these days." Or maybe he was only picking up on my own uneasy vibes.

  Adam shook his head and gently placed his arm around my shoulder, trying to lead me back in the other direction. "Come on, Georgie, you're just being silly. It's out of the way. And it's late. You just said how tired you are. I'm sure that you would have remembered to lock up."

  I shrugged his arm off me. I was insistent. "No," I said, a little annoyed. "I just want to check. Are you coming with me or not?"

  I couldn't quite read the look on his face. He seemed positively distressed at the idea of adding five minutes to our journey. "It's fine," I said. "You can go home and I'll check on my own."

  But with a reluctant sigh, he agreed to come with me.

  But by the time we reached the top of the street, I glanced down and my heart started to settle a little. "Oh, you're probably right after all," I said to Adam. "The street is perfectly still, and sleepy."

  Adam looked relieved. "Just like you are. Just like I am, actually. Come on, let's—"

  Jasper suddenly pulled so hard on his leash that he almost made me fall forward onto the pavement. "Jasper!" I admonished him as his leash slipped out of my hands. "Come back!" I shouted as he raced as fast as he could toward my shop, a blur of black and white as he dashed through the empty street.

  I chased after him, not noticing that Adam hung back and didn't follow.

  Jasper was barking like a dog possessed at the window of the store. I had never seen him like that before, snarling and practically frothing at the mouth.

  That was how I knew it was something serious. He wouldn't behave that way unless he was trying to protect me, or alert me, or both.

  It only took me a few seconds to join him at the front of the store. I stopped, my heart racing so fast I felt like I was about to pass out.

  The front window was smashed.

  A figure, holding a brand new box with a brand new sewing machine inside it, stepped furtively through the window, unaware at first that it wasn't just a dog who had disturbed him.

  I didn’t think I'd ever felt so disappointed in my life.

  "Gem?" I asked. "Oh, Gem. What have you done..."

  Chapter 8

  I threw a ball across the park for Jasper to catch and return.

  While he chased it and picked it up in his mouth, he wasn't so good with the 'returning' part, and instead decided to keep it to himself, sitting down and gnawing on it like it was a bone.

  I shook my head. "You still need a little bit of training, don't you, boy?"

  One of these days, when I had the time and the money, and Jasper didn't have such bad separation anxiety, I intended to send him to puppy training camp, even though he was a bit older than a pup. Apparently, there was a camp nearby that took dogs of all ages.

  But until then I was just going to have to train him as well as I could, on my own.

  "What do you think, Jasper? Do you think either of these men I know are truly innocent?" I was sitting on a log with my knees tucked up against me. The wind was a little gentler, but it still made my jewelry jangle and whipped my hair into my eyes every now and then.

  But I didn't feel like being inside, not at home, right then.

  I was starting to wish I'd never bailed Adam out of jail.

  All I could think about was how reluctant Adam had been to check the shop, how he'd tried to drag me back home.

  "Did he know that Gem was going to be there?" I asked Jasper when he finally brought the tennis ball back to me and placed it at my feet. "Did he give Gem the all clear that the shop was going to be empty?" Were they in it together? I mean, someone had to be helping Gem, right?

  The wind suddenly died down completely for the first time in days and the park was totally still and quiet. And finally I was starting to be able to get my thoughts clear.

  Jasper sat and looked up at me in earnest.

  "Hmm, you're right, boy," I said, nodding. "Adam was only able to make one phone call from jail, and he made it to me. How could he have possibly told Gem that the shop was going to be empty?"

  I just didn't know what to think. My gut, usually something I could rely on to get me through these situations, was all over the place. First of all, my instincts told me that Adam must be innocent. That he was not capable of murder. But they also told me he was hiding something, and that he knew more about Gem's schemes than he was letting on.

  "Come on," I said to Jasper, standing up. "It's just you and me again now."

  When I got home, the place was empty. I was thankful and took the chance while I had it. I placed a couple of hundred dollar bills down on the counter along with a note, letting Adam know that I had already called up and checked that there was a room free for the night at the near-by Flamingo Inn.

  "Please be gone by the time I get back."

  It was finally time for that drink.

  "Wow, with new joints like this popping up, Pottsville is going to become positively cosmopolitan," I commented, glancing around at the interior of the flashy new bar. "Though it is a little too red for my tastes." The walls were red and the lights were red, and with the black bar and tables, I think it was supposed to have a romantic atmosphere. But to be honest, it was a little creepy.

  "Do you want to try one of these cocktails?" Ryan asked, handing me the menu for me to peruse. "Looks like they switch them around every week."

  "Hmm, they all sound tempting, and delicious," I said. "Especially the espresso martini. I could do with the shot of caffeine right now..."

  "But?" Ryan asked knowingly.

  "But, you know that I can't resist my glass of red," I said a little apologetically. "Does that make me terribly unadventurous?"

  Ryan laughed. "I don't think the drink a person orders is a very good indication of how adventurous they are," he said with a wink. "Because that's certainly not the word I would use to describe you. You seem to change every time I see you."

  "It's funny, because my ex-husband doesn't seem to think that I've changed at all."

  Ryan declined the offer of a cocktail as well and ordered one of the bar's specially brewed boutique beers.

  "And how is it going, having your ex-husband stay with you?" Ryan asked after his beer had arrived and he'd taken a few healthy gulps.

  "He's not. Not any longer," I replied simply.

  I could have sworn Ryan looked very pleased to hear that news. "Things didn't work out then?"

  "Got a little awkward after he was arrested for murder last night," I quipped back. Then, in a less amused tone, "Kind of brought up some old, bad memories as well."

  I looked away, hoping that Ryan would change the subject. He picked up on the cue. "Man, this beer is...different tasting. More floral than I was expecting. Though I guess this place does do things differently."

  "Well, I think this place is just perfect," I said, clinking my glass against his bottle. "And I'm glad that you finally called me. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from you last night. Believe me. I needed a pleasant surprise."

  "Sorry it took so long for us to catch up again like this," Ryan said. He laughed a little nervously and tore at the corner of the label of his bottle. "And sorry for..." He cringed a little. "…everything that happened with Adam."

  "It's fine," I said, waving my hand as though it was all truly nothing. It was definitely awkward, though. How could it not be?

  "I know things have been a little weird between us," Ryan said.

  "I have to ask you something," I said, cutting him off. "Because it's really been troubling me."

  Ryan frowned and pushed his beer aside. "Well, that's no good. You can ask me anything that's on your mind."

  "Why haven't you arrested me?"

  Ryan looked a little startled. "Excuse me?"

  "For Julie's murder. Or at least, why haven't you questioned me? Brenda told me that she'd been to the cops to tell them I was as
the scene of the crime."

  "Oh, that..." Ryan threw his head back and laughed before picking up his beer bottle again. "We stopped taking her seriously after the third suspect she came forward with," Ryan said. "Besides, no one else saw you at the scene and your prints weren't there." He shrugged. "We can't take every thing Brenda says to us too seriously, or we'd never be able to conduct our own investigations."

  "I see." My voice sounded a little flat.

  Ryan took another sip of beer and raised his eyebrows. "Why does that not seem like the answer you wanted to hear?"

  I laughed a little. "I don't know… I'm just being silly." I fluttered my eyelashes a little bit in an over-exaggerated fashion. "I suppose I was hoping to hear that you had so much faith in me that you couldn't possibly believe I was capable of murder."

  "That too," Ryan said carefully as he sat his empty bottle down and ordered another. I shook my head as he offered me another drink. My wine glass was still surprisingly full.

  "And how is that working out for you, George?" Ryan asked.

  "Huh?" I asked, realizing my attention had drifted a little.

  "Having faith that people can't possibly be capable of murder?"

  I stared into my pinot noir and swirled the glass, forming little waves of red to splash inside like a violent ocean. "I think anyone is capable of anything, really."

  Ryan had promised to call me the following day, but I was too old to believe lines like that and so was hardly waiting by the phone.

  But when he did text me, just to say hello, the next morning while I was making my morning coffee in peace, it was another pleasant surprise. See? This is a man who you can actually rely on.

  We texted back and forth for a few minutes. I told him how amazing it was to have the house to myself again and not to wake up to a pile of dirty dishes on the coffee table.

  Uh oh, I texted. There's a knock on the door. That is never good news.

  Oh no, Ryan quickly replied. I hope it's not your houseguest.

  I decided that if it was Adam standing there, I was going to call Ryan up and tell him that Adam was threatening to leave town so he could throw him back in jail. But it was someone even worse.

  Brenda.

  "I was just out for a walk," she said. "Now that I have more spare time, I've taken the opportunity to get plenty of exercise."

  I smiled at her, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of letting her know that she was getting on my last nerve. "Wonderful morning for a stroll," I said cheerily. "I trust you're enjoying the cold air, so I'll let you get back to it."

  I tried to shut the door but she stood in front of it. "Really, I wouldn't want to get in the way of your exercise," I said.

  Brenda looked worried. "Georgina, I need to tell you something... What is that scratching noise?" she asked, nosily poking her head through the door.

  "It's Jasper trying to get in through the glass doors," I replied drolly. "He always knows when there's an unwanted guest here."

  Brenda straightened up. "Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?"

  I shrugged casually. "You can say whatever you want, it's a free country. That doesn't mean that I have to listen to it. Or even hear it."

  Brenda was growing more and more annoyed. Hey, better her than I, right? "Georgina, I've been down to the police precinct to try and tell them something, but they refuse to take me seriously." She was practically wringing her hands with worry. "And you know how much I care about this town. I am only trying to help."

  I stared at her flatly. "Help? Or make everyone in the town look—and feel—guilty?"

  "Georgina. If the police aren't going to listen to me, then I have to turn to you," she said. "Believe me, I didn’t want to come here. But I know who did it. I know who killed Julie."

  "I'm going to have to take the lead of the police force here," I said. "And stop taking you seriously after the third person you accuse of murder. You’re the boy who cried wolf, Brenda. Sorry, the middle-aged woman who played wolf."

  Brenda crossed her arms in offense. "I am younger than you are, Georgina."

  That fact always surprised me.

  "My point still stands," I said, starting to close the door.

  "Fine. But you're ignoring me at your own peril!" Brenda cried. "Because I know who killed Julie. It was her sister."

  Eager to prove to myself that I didn't need the help of either Adam or Brenda, I opened the shop, on time, and worked the full day on my own. Every time a customer came in and asked for their layaway goods, I informed them that we no longer offered that service and offered to refund their money.

  "I'll be heading back to Julie's store as soon at it reopens!" a few customers grumbled.

  Well, I was just going to have to cross that bridge when I got to it.

  If Caroline was arrested, then there would be no chance of the shop ever opening again. I could have a monopoly in this town.

  I had to push that thought out of my head. I couldn't let greed cloud my judgement. And I certainly couldn't listen to Brenda.

  The house seemed eerily empty when I got home and Adam's things were no longer sprawled out on the sofa, and there were no more dirty dishes strewn across the coffee table. Call me crazy but for a second, I almost missed them.

  Even Jasper seemed to notice the absence. "Don't worry, boy," I said, walking to the pantry to fetch him a treat. "I will play with you just as much as Adam did."

  But he seemed a little despondent as he crouched down on the floor, his ears down low. He was sulking.

  "Well, don't blame me!" I said, standing up with my hands on my hips.

  He looked up at me with his large puppy dog eyes as if to say, "Do something about it then."

  I shook my head. "You don't give me the commands, Jasper. I give them to you." Not that he ever listened.

  I couldn't stand that sad look on his face for a minute longer. I sighed. "Fine. You win."

  The sun was already setting, but I was heading back to the hills.

  Chapter 9

  I'd had to bribe Jasper with treats to get him this far, and even that was barely enough to get him to move from the foot of the hills. I couldn't help being mildly annoyed. "It was your very effective guilt trip that got me to come all the way out here in the first place, remember?"

  If the hills had been mildly spooky during the day, they were downright terrifying at night. As I moved along the steep path, I could have sworn I saw a pair of bright red eyes staring at me from behind a tree. I turned to look, my heart beating quickly, but the eyes had moved, or disappeared.

  "Or they were never there in the first place," I said out loud as I tried to drag Jasper up the slope.

  If there had really been someone in the woods then Jasper would have wanted to run after them, I told myself. But he didn't want to go anywhere near them. So that meant that they were empty...right?

  I never thought I'd be so relieved to see Gem Dawes.

  He pulled the door back and the light inside his cottage was a beacon inviting me in from the dark. Well, Gem wasn't exactly inviting me in. He was guarding the door with his arms crossed.

  I tried smiling. Always my best bet in situations like this. "I thought it was customary to be a little more contrite to the person you just robbed."

  Gem lowered his arms.

  "You shouldn't be here."

  "I didn't think there was any law against me visiting the person who stole from me," I said with a shrug. Though, maybe there was. Was I really supposed to stay away from him until after the court date? Ryan had said that it wouldn't be for months. There were more important things for the police and the courts to deal with. Like open murder cases.

  "I don't mean that," Gem said, lowering his voice. He stepped aside and waved me in through the doors, though he seemed a little reluctant to do so. "I mean that you shouldn't be walking up the hills after dark."

  "Oh, not that again," I said dismissively, unhooking the leash from Jasper's collar as I stepped through the do
or. I hoped that I wasn't still shaking. That might give away the fact that my laissez-faire attitude right then was all a put on.

  "You can be dismissive, but that doesn't mean it's not real," Gem said as he quickly tidied his kitchen table. He grabbed a sheet of paper off and quickly hid it in the pocket of his red checked coat. I narrowed my eyes, trying to think of a way to get a look at what he was trying to hide. Maybe if he gets warm, I can grab the coat and go through the pockets.

  But the cottage was freezing cold, with no fire or heater for warmth that night. "How about some of that amazing tea you made me the last time I visited?" I asked warmly. "And make it extra hot." Hey, it was my best shot at getting him to remove the coat.

  With my cup of tea in my hands and the lights shining brightly, I suddenly didn't feel so terrified about being in the so-called haunted hills. In fact, it all seemed very silly indeed, the way I had been jumping at shadows.

  "No fire tonight?" I found myself commenting. It seemed a little strange, considering we were surrounded by trees. "What, is the forest running low on timber?" I asked with a little laugh as I took a sip of tea.

  Gem didn’t find it funny at all. Okay, maybe it wasn't.

  "It's a full moon. We don't go chopping down wood under a full moon. We can't do anything to disturb the woods at all. They don't belong to us, you know," Gem said quietly.

  "They—they don't?" I said. "I thought your family owned all the land up here."

  Gem looked at me like I was quite dense. "I mean that there are creatures that live in there that are better left alone."

  "Like...coyotes?" I asked.

  Gem rolled his eyes. "Sure. If that's what you want to call them." He shook his head in frustration. "But the things that my family have seen sure don't look like coyotes to me. Do coyotes live for hundreds of years? Do they stalk the woods and walk on two legs?"

  "Those are just fairytales," I said.

  "And you don't think that fairytales have any basis in reality? Rumors usually do have some fact to them."