Literally Murder (A Pepper Brooks Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Eryn Scott

  Sighing, I said, "I was only helpful with the last one because it was all about Shakespeare. There wasn't anything literary about Katie's death."

  Despite my shaking head, Liv began scratching down more words on the notepad. "I'll just leave this here, for when you change your mind." She placed the notepad on the coffee table and winked at me.

  "Fine." I scoffed, but smiled to show Liv I wasn't mad at her for pushing. Most of the time, she pushed me because she thought it was good for me. This time, however, I wasn't so sure she was right. "I'm going to go get some reading done."

  I gave a little wave as Hammy and I disappeared into my bedroom. Collapsing face down on my bed, I pictured my blue bedspread as the creek and tried to imagine what it must've been like for poor Katie. My hand grasped at my neck, shivering as I remembered those marks on Katie's neck. It probably hadn't even been the water that had killed her.

  I flipped over, then cracked open my book and read for a couple hours. I let myself escape into the Parisian streets of The Sun Also Rises, Hammy's snores the only reminders of my real life.

  4

  I slipped further away from reality as I read, following the characters from Paris to Spain, reveling in the white plastered buildings baking in the bright sun, and the red tiled roofs lining the hills by the sea where the biggest concern was how much to bet on the bullfight.

  There was a knock on my door a while later.

  "Come in," I said, closing the book and looking up. Hammy and I had rearranged ourselves at some point and I was sitting cross-legged with her curled in my lap.

  My heart jumped happily as I saw Alex standing in my open doorway. Liv must've let him in. He was wearing a soft, gray T-shirt, jeans, and his hair looked damp. He'd gone home to clean up after his shift.

  "Hey." His voice must've been the perfect auditory wavelength because it made me feel instantly better.

  He closed the door behind him and settled on the end of my bed. Hamburger snorted awake and clambered over to him, scratching me a bit in the process.

  I shivered. The fact that Katie was gone was starting to sink in. We hadn't been all that close, but now I wished I had made more time to catch up with her.

  My eyes stayed glued to Alex. "Anything new?" I asked.

  "Wanna take a walk?"

  I pressed my lips together and nodded. Hamburger froze at the word "walk" and cocked her head to the side.

  "You can come, too, Hamburgeusa." He winked at her.

  Between the wink and his accent when he used the Spanish version of her name, I think I would've followed the guy anywhere.

  Carson and Liv were draped over each other on the couch, each with a textbook and laptop open. They looked up as we emerged from my room.

  "We'll be back in a bit," I said, grabbing Hammy's leash from the wall, ignoring the wink Liv shot my way when Alex's back was to her.

  It was still bright out, but the sun was beginning to dip behind the mountains, taking the heat with it. As the breeze grew colder, I wished I had brought a sweatshirt. Then Alex put an arm over my shoulders and I was glad I hadn't.

  Hamburger clicked alongside us, paying close attention to Alex, the current Holder of the Leash. We'd been working on her leash etiquette over the past few months and she was no longer dragging us around like that marlin had dragged Hemingway's old man out to sea.

  "You doing okay?" he asked.

  I nodded and hugged tighter to him.

  "My mom was a firm believer that hugs made even the worst days better," he said as we rounded a corner and started walking down a quiet, empty street. His lips pulled into a smile, but his eyes retained the pained look they got anytime he talked about her. "She was kind of famous around the city, a cop who loved to hug. She'd embrace complete strangers and would usually end ticket citations with a handshake, if she could."

  He didn't talk about her too much, so I relished the bits of information like the sparse words of a William Carlos Williams poem.

  "Sounds like you're a lot like her." I motioned to his arm wrapped around me. When I'd first met him, any bit of contact between us would turn me into a rambling mess, but now his touch seemed to be the only thing that would quiet my worried mind.

  Alex said, "I try to be."

  I watched the sidewalk for a few seconds, thinking about how he'd told Carson that we unfortunately weren't on a date earlier. Had that meant he wanted us to be? Or had he just been speaking to the miserable circumstances of our afternoon? It had been too early to have "the talk" about what we were to each other before he'd left for the academy, but there hadn't felt like a right moment to bring it up since he'd been back.

  Hammy snorted through some tall grass growing along the side. Alex stopped, giving her a gentle tug back our way. He removed his arm and turned to face me.

  Maybe that moment was finally here...

  He cleared his throat. "Pepper."

  I swallowed, looking up at him.

  "I want you to stay out of this investigation." Those dark eyes scanned my face as he waited for my reaction.

  Or not. I tried not to let my disappointment show. "Okay..." I shrugged.

  "What?"

  "I don't want to be involved in another case." A shiver ran up and down my neck as I pictured Katie's bruised neck, her body floating in the water...

  Alex ran a hand through his hair. "It's just—I saw the notepad on the coffee table in your apartment and..."

  "Oh, that? That was Liv. She thinks she's my hot Watson." I rolled my eyes. "I already told her I wasn't going to get involved."

  "Thank you." He sighed and put his arm around me again.

  We walked to the end of the street and turned around. The sky became a lovely matte blue in the dusky light. The cool air seemed to accentuate the loamy smell coming from gardens as we passed by each house.

  Hammy started pulling us back toward the apartment, having completed her usual loop, so we followed her lead. It was getting dark out anyway.

  "Wanna stay for dinner?" I asked as I opened the door to our apartment. I didn't want to have to say goodbye yet. I looked back at him as I stepped inside.

  "Sure," Alex said, but his face darkened, his eyes narrowed at something inside. I turned my attention from him to the apartment. Any breath in my lungs escaped in a quick exhale.

  Sitting on our couch next to Liv was Jewel, Katie's roommate.

  Her normally sleek dark brown hair was gathered into a messy bun and her face red and blotchy. The moment she met my eyes, she shot forward. Jewel pulled me into a hug, sobbing on my shoulder.

  I wrapped my arms around her. The room went silent around me and I heard Alex close the door behind us. Liv's arms soon enveloped both of us as she turned it into a group hug of sorts. Katie and Jewel had been our two-doors-down neighbors during freshman year in Howard Hall.

  Jewel sniffled and pulled away, red eyes meeting mine.

  "I heard you were the one who found her." Her voice wobbled almost as much as her trembling body.

  Ignoring the sigh from Alex behind me—probably wondering how the heck that information had been leaked so quickly—I led her back toward the couch and helped her sit. Once I'd perched next to her, I nodded.

  "Tell me what happened," she wailed, tears dripping off her chin.

  I met Alex's gaze. His eyes darkened and I could tell he wouldn't be happy with me divulging anything about the case. Luckily, I had about as much of a mind to tell her anything about her roommate's death than I did of getting a whole face tattoo.

  Shaking my head, I put a hand over hers. "I'm so sorry, Jewel." One hot tear spilled down my cheek as I watched her distress.

  "Do you have any idea what could've happened?" Liv asked, sitting behind me on the couch, facing Jewel. "I mean, is there anyone who might have wanted to hurt her?

  Liv hadn't been privy to Alex's request that I stay out of this investigation, and she didn't seem to notice his tight expression as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

  "Um...
the police already asked me that. I—I already told them everything I know." Jewel's wild eyes scanned the room as if challenging anyone to say she hadn't. "Which is nothing."

  My eyebrows pinched together like they did whenever Liv tried to lie to me. Jewel knows something...

  Swatting away the questions and curiosities Jewel's odd behavior brought up, I remembered that not only had Alex told me to stay out of it, I didn't want to get involved.

  We convinced Jewel to stay for dinner, and she played with Hammy while Liv and I put together some sandwiches. Carson and Alex leaned against the counter, both with tight jaws and hands shoved in pockets.

  "I think we'll head out," Carson said after a moment. "Give you three some space."

  I could tell by the way Alex's mouth opened for a fraction of a second before he clamped it shut again, that he didn't appreciate Carson volunteering him to leave. Did he not trust me to stay out of this?

  "Yes. Let us know if you need anything." Alex nodded and headed for the door.

  Carson said goodbye to Liv and then they were gone.

  As we ate, we were able to get Jewel's mind off Katie by chatting about our classes and the new bar opening in Pine Crest; the campus was abuzz with the news of a new watering hole.

  At one point, I went into the kitchen to grab some chips to go with our sandwiches and Liv went to the bathroom. When we returned, Jewel was fast asleep with half a sandwich still clutched in her hand. Liv took the plate and moved it to the fridge while I grabbed an extra blanket to drape over our guest. We gathered up our half-full plates and stood in the hallway by our rooms.

  "I've got some homework to do," Liv whispered, jerking her head toward her bedroom since her hands were full of the rest of her dinner. "I'll just finish this in there."

  I nodded and did the same with the remains of my sandwich. I tried to read after I was done eating, but couldn't seem to focus. I thought of Hemingway's quote: "I love to sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake." Things seemed to be falling apart, alright. Maybe it was time to go to sleep.

  Before getting ready for bed, I crept out into the kitchen to grab my requisite nightly glass of water to keep on my bedside table. I tried to be as quiet as I could with the cupboard doors and the faucet, but it didn't seem to matter, because when I glanced at the couch, I caught Jewel sitting upright, eyes wide as she stared at me.

  "Sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

  "Pepper." My name was a terrible strangled noise as it left Jewel's lips.

  I frowned and walked closer. "What is it?" I kept my voice down to match hers.

  "I lied earlier when I said I'd told the police everything I knew." Her fingers curled into the blanket.

  "What?" I asked. The room spun slightly in what little light spilled from my open door.

  She shook her head and gasped for air. "I didn't mean to lie, I just—Katie made me swear I wouldn't tell, but now... I—I think I know why she's dead."

  My heart hammered in my chest. Oh lord. Way to stay out of things, Pepper. I technically didn't ask her to keep talking, everything just spilled out of her.

  "Katie was having an affair..." Jewel swallowed. "With a professor. Katie said he broke up with her out of nowhere and threatened to do something drastic if she didn't leave him alone."

  "Whoa." It was all I could think to say, mostly because I couldn't really think. My eyes narrowed as my mind suddenly cleared, leaving behind one question. "Wait, do you know who it is?"

  Jewel nodded. "Garrison." Her face scrunched into a grimace.

  My eyebrows shot up as I considered the theater professor. He was pretty young, thirties probably, and quite good-looking. A lot of the girls talked about him, but I'd never heard of anything inappropriate.

  "Garrison?" I breathed his name. "How long?"

  "She told me about it about four months ago, right after Christmas." Tears sprang to her eyes again. "He broke it off a few weeks ago. She said he wanted to focus on his wife, on making his marriage work, but she had a feeling he'd met someone new. She was really sad for a few days, but then she started seeing someone new, too, and seemed better. Do you think Garrison could've killed her?"

  "I don't know." I pursed my lips to the side. After accusing just about everybody but the actual killer during my last experience, I was wary to make assumptions.

  Jewel said, "Everyone's saying you figured out that murder last year, Pepper. I figured it wasn't so bad I didn't let the police know if I could tell you. You can find out what happened, right?" She sniffed, her eyes pleading with me.

  I felt a tightness form in my chest. Here I'd gone and promised Alex I would stay out of this and now I was harboring information which not even the police were privy to. Meeting Jewel's eyes, I said, "I can't help you. I'm so sorry. But it's not too late to tell the police."

  Jewel shook her head. "I don't know about this, Pepper."

  I looked toward the door. "That guy who was here earlier, Alex, he's a cop and a really good one. His dad is the lead investigator. If you tell them, they'll help find out what happened to her. I promise."

  "You sure? They won't be mad that I didn't tell them right away?"

  I nodded, even though I couldn't guarantee Detective Valdez's face wouldn't be pulled into his normal scowl as he listened. "If Garrison did kill her, they're not going to figure it out if they don't know to look into him."

  "Okay," she said with a nod.

  Squeezing my fingers into tight fists for a second, I pulled out my phone and texted Alex.

  "I need you back."

  I glanced back down when my phone buzzed with a response from Alex.

  "Oh?"

  My cheeks flushed. As much as I wanted to read into the suggestiveness behind the text, this wasn't the time. I added more information, but still didn't want Jewel to bolt so I kept my text short and quick.

  "Bring your dad."

  My phone buzzed again.

  "My dad? Um…?"

  "Jewel's up and she's talking. You guys are going to want to hear this."

  "Got it," was his response.

  Tucking my phone away, I focused back on Jewel.

  Not more than ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door and I opened it to find two tall, dark, and serious men outside. While seeing them right next to each other made me realize how much Alex looked like his father, it also highlighted the differences. Alex was slightly taller and there was an ease to the way he held himself, unlike the rigidity of his father's posture. Mostly, though, there was a softness to Alex's face which was unrecognizable in Detective Valdez's features. Knowing what little I did about his mother, I liked to think Alex had gotten that soft side from her.

  I led them inside and perched on the edge of the couch. While neither of them were in uniform, there was a nervous, foreign energy filling the apartment at having law enforcement here again. It reminded me of last fall when Liv and I had a break-in and the cops had combed our place for hours making sure we were okay.

  If I thought I was nervous having the detective sitting across from me, however, my reaction was nothing compared to Jewel's. Her face was flushed, her eyes shifty, and her hands wrung together in her lap. I worried for a moment that she wouldn't tell them, that they'd come out here for nothing, but then Alex's soft gaze landed on her.

  "Jewel, it's okay. We know it's nerve-wracking to talk to cops. A lot of people don't always tell the whole truth the first time they give their statements," he said, leaning forward a bit.

  While I wondered if that was true or if he'd made it up to make her feel better, tears sprang to Jewel's eyes again.

  "I'm so sorry." She looked down at her lap and her shoulders shook as she quietly cried. It looked like tonight wasn't going to be the breakthrough confession I'd hoped.

  I shot an apologetic glance at Alex and then his father. Their expressions were almost identical frowns. But just as I was about to suggest we try again tomorrow, Jewel sniffed and lifted her head.

/>   "She was seeing someone." Her voice was wobbly. It stayed that way throughout her whole confession, but she managed to get everything out.

  Alex took notes the whole time. His father simply listened.

  She ended with the same question she'd asked me earlier. "Do you think Garrison could've killed her?"

  Detective Valdez cleared his throat. "We'll look into it now that we know about this. This case is—” He paused for a moment, then finished with, “—more complicated than we first realized."

  "We'll be in touch," Alex said as he closed his notebook and stood.

  They shook Jewel's probably-still-trembling hand and then headed for the door. I showed Jewel where the bathroom was so she could blow her nose and then I walked the two of them out. Alex's father looked between us for a second, nodded stiffly at me, and then headed toward the parking lot. It was almost pitch-black outside now as we closed in on nine o'clock.

  "I'll meet you at the car, son." Even in the gruff, serious tone, I could detect a hint of humor in the detective's words. The man looked back, eyeing the two of us. Was that a smirk on his face?

  My gaze shifted back to Alex just in time to see him roll his eyes at his dad. He huffed out a wry laugh.

  "Thanks for coming." I picked at the paint on the door frame.

  Alex's hand clasped tight over my shoulder. "No, thank you. You did the right thing."

  My lips parted, wanting him to lean down and kiss me, wanting to lean up and kiss him. Just as he stepped slightly closer to me, Jewel came back from the bathroom.

  Alex leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "Goodnight, Pepper."

  "Night, Alex."

  I watched him retreat into the lot, the warm yellow streetlights casting long shadows in the deepening dark.

  5

  I said goodnight to Jewel and slipped into Liv's room. She looked up from her laptop, thankfully still up; I really didn't want to be alone.

  "What's up?" Music played from her speakers. She must not have even heard Alex and his dad arrive or leave.