COZY MYSTERY: Lemon Pie Murder Series (Lemon Mystery Murder)

by Lorrie Bannett

  Once she was done with this, the next thing that she was in a position to do was to ensure that she got virtually every single piece of information arranged in the order of priority. Agent Morris always loved doing all of the heavy lifting so that when it came the time to stay focused, it would be done in the most effective ways ever.

  It took her almost half a day to make the necessary preparation and in the end, it seemed as though she was going to have a very difficult time just kicking back and trying her level best to make sense out of everything else. And just like that, the only thing that seemed to make any more sense would have been to sit back and ensure that she had confirmed that the agents would be there.

  After counterchecking and confirming, Agent Morris took a look at her watch. It was almost one o’clock in the evening and she just couldn’t help but let out a yarn. She was hungry and that said, she needed something to make sure that she was sleeping like a baby. And it went without saying that a warm bath would do the trick.

  That said, the only thing that would have made some sense would be to stop working. The problem with Agent Morris was that when she put her head as well as focus into doing something, she just couldn’t find a way to stop. But thankfully, now she had a reason to stop doing exactly that.

  She immediately went from her study to her bathroom and took a very quick bath, making sure that she was washing off all the tiredness that she had gathered from working too darn hard. And once she was fresh and tidy, she dried her body as quickly as she could before she could retire to bed.

  The following day was going to be an epic one and she figured she needed to be as fresh as possible in order to make it productive.

  Chapter 3:

  -Putting the dots together-

  At the end of the meeting, it seemed as though a lot of things weren’t making a hell lot of sense.

  For instance, making sure that they had rated the rivals as well as the people who had motives to kill the poor woman. All this was supposed to be done within a day and since it was a huge amount of paperwork to go through, Agent Morris decided that it would be much more effective to have plenty of workers to work on that since it would have been for her own sake if she wanted the job done perfectly.

  Thankfully, all of these agents on her team were highly trained and would make sure that the work was done and analyzed properly. And that said, the other incredible thing for her to do would have been to stay focused at all times since in the end, that was the only thing that would have mattered in the end.

  Agent Morris hadn’t had the opportunity of doing this in a very long time. But that wasn’t going to stop her from going about her work as effectively as possible. If anything, that was the main reason as to why she was always on top of her food chain – not leaving any stone unturned. She locked herself in her office for the better part of that afternoon, trying to see the information collected as far as the competition was concerned.

  At first, she thought that the people who might have been responsible for the murder of the lemon pie veteran was her competition. But from the look of things, and also by checking out the data received, these people seemed to be way too smart for stooping that low. Business people always had a tendency of killing off the businesses and not their competitors. That way, they could hide their deeps by paying off a cat’s paws who might come in the form of an arson or people of that ilk.

  But from the look of things, it seemed as though someone had decided to cut off the proverbial head of the snake. And if this was a bid of getting rid of the organization or it was to make sure that the competition was dead and gone, it was still a very difficult thing for them to figure out.

  As a matter of fact, the only thing that would have made any sense at that moment would have been to stay focused at all times. Once she had the lead on the case, then they would be in a position to prioritize them depending on what seemed to be closest to the real case to be pursued. And once they got it right, then they were going to allocate their resources to finding who the killer was.

  The meeting was to take place the following day, and so Agent Morris had to make sure that she was doing everything in her power to get things running as effectively as possible. And so without wasting any more time, she decided to make a point of making a follow up as fast as possible. That way, everything was going to end up superbly.

  “You know; you can actually have a good time with the case if you just decided to share with others you know. Isn’t that the reason as to why you wanted a team at your disposal?” a voice came through the front door, startling Agent Morris for a moment.

  “Oh crap, it’s you? Please, come in. You startled me.” Agent Morris said with a smile on her face on realizing that she was talking with the commander.

  “Ah, it’s ok. I knew you were going to work too hard for this and so I came in to remind you not to. I need you to focus on this case. And for that to happen, I want you to oversee. Please, deliberate the work.”

  “I understand your concern sir. And needless to say, I will deliberate when the time comes. But as of now, I just need to make sure that everything is working out rather perfectly.”

  “Ok, whatever you say. I just popped in to make sure that you aren’t working too hard. You know how these things will play out especially when things start going haywire. The last thing I want is for you to be in a position to worry.”

  “Don’t worry sir, you just focus on getting my team the resources that we need and everything will be sorted out.”

  “Ok, I will do that. Oh, and its tea time… if at all you still remember what that is.”

  Agent Morris just smiled and shook her head a little. From the look of things, it seemed as though she was getting a little tired having to plan on how to have the case executed and without a doubt, she figured that maybe it would be a nice thing if she just kicked back and unwound a little.

  But first, she had to bookmark the thick file that she was reading so that she could forget where she was supposed to start at the end of the day. And once she did that, the next thing for her to do was to leave.

  ***

  After spending about five hours straight looking at the case, it got to a point where Agent Morris got tired and went out to look for food. It had been a very difficult day and from the look of things, the only thing that would have made more sense would have been to ensure that she was talking to someone about the case.

  And that explained why she always had a team of smart agents on each and every one of her cases. They always ensured that everything was getting to work out rather perfectly and in the end, the only good thing that could have happened would have been to stay focused at all times. Then when it was time to talk about the case, Agent Morris would get different views from totally different perspectives.

  That would most definitely make the case very easy to solve at the end of the day. As a matter of fact, one of the most important things that could have happened to her was making sure that she deliberated her thoughts to someone and then in the end, they would see to it that everything was sorted out without a doubt.

  She also wanted to just kick back and unwind because it looked as though she was getting to work way too hard and that could go a long way in hindering her effectiveness as far as solving this case was concerned. And that said, the only other thing that remained was making sure that she had closed the thick file and closed her eyes.

  Working too darn hard was something that she was used to doing but that said, it also gave her something to worry about and that said, it seemed as though it was time to loosen up a little. Maybe it was a good idea to go out and have a couple of drinks with a friend. And the thought of that cold beer going down her throat made her smile for a moment or two.

  “So, about the case that you are about to get us involved with, is there a chance that I can get the exclusive before tomorrow’s official briefing?”

  “Well, I think it’s still vague but there are a couple of leads here and there. First and foremos
t, we need to establish the reason as to why the poor woman was killed. As soon as we are in a position to do that, then we will most definitely have the golden chance to make things right by the poor woman.”

  “Ok, so if I were to speculate, what do you think killed the poor woman?”

  “Judging from what I saw; I think someone with enough money to hire a professional killer. If it were an amateur, there would have been a hell lot of struggle involved. But this one was a perfect strike, a one blow kill.”

  “So I heard. But why do you think the granny was a target? You see, when you told me all about her, I thought I would take a ride down to her neighborhood and got to ask a couple of questions. And to be honest, people down there are still shocked that she was murdered. Mrs. Jones might have been a millionaire alright, but she never let her money define who she was. And that explained why she was very successful. People just loved her for sure.”

  “And that might have been the reason why someone somewhere wanted her dead. As a matter of fact, it would have been an incredible thing if she died when she hadn’t put her affairs in order.”

  “And why is that?”

  “It’s simple. If Mrs. Jones died without putting her affairs in order, then the family will most definitely go into fighting, making sure that they were having such a difficult time to the extent that the company would fail. And once this has been done, then the next thing would have been a nice environment for the other business to thrive.”

  Agent Howard smiled. It was an incredible thing that they already had been on to something. It was such an amazing skeletal structure of the case. And now that Agent Morris had done her part in making sure that they were on the same page, the next thing would have been to ensure that they were getting things done as perfectly as possible to put the flesh on her ideas.

  “I think you might be on to something right there. And so without further ado, I think I owe you the first round.”

  “Getting a first round would be nice you know.”

  Chapter 4:

  -The inquest-

  Getting the very first lead as far as the case was concerned was nothing short of an incredible breakthrough. As a matter of fact, it was a firm course for going back to the bar and having a good drink. But instead of doing just that, Agent Morris went back to her office to get all of her affairs ready before the official inquest begun. If anything, the only thing that would have made any sense at that moment would have been to sit back and count her blessings thoroughly.

  The person who was to be inquired was none other than the main competitor himself, Mr. Thomas brown. From the look of things, he also owned a lemon pie company that was always bitter rivals to Mrs. Jones and needless to say, had a good motive to have her killed. But the police officers knew hat they had to approach the matter in a very delicate manner since he was a powerful man and could get his lawyers to fight the police officers if they weren’t careful at all.

  But on the contrary, Mr. Brown was more than willing to show his full cooperation to the surprise of virtually everyone else. From the look of things, it seemed as though he wanted to look innocent so as to avoid the police officers from treating him as a suspect.

  But despite that fact, Agent Morris opted to treat each and every one on her list as a suspect until the evidence told her otherwise. And so whether Mr. Brown was just playing smart or not, it didn’t really matter because there was no way that she was going to look the other way as far as the case was concerned.

  And the moment she was ready to go and question Mr. Brown, Agent Morris didn’t want to waste any more time. And so she opened the door and shut it, leaving the other agents that made up her team watching very carefully. Some of them were carrying notebooks to ensure that nothing was missing them for sure.

  “Mr. Brown, I know the reason why you are here. So I will just go straight to the point and not beat around the bush.”

  “That would be great ma’am since I have my businesses to attend to and you have very important police work to do.”

  “Give me a reason why I should exempt you from being a prime suspect on this case. First and foremost, I think it is a good idea that you aren’t resisting anything since you would only look guilty.”

  Mr. Brown smiled from ear to ear before clearing his throat. And as she was doing so, there was a behaviorist on the other side of the mirror who was recording all of his movements and checking him out one more time. They were willing to go to certain extends in order to make sure that everything was going on according to plans and eventually, give them all an upper hand as far as getting the real thing done was concerned.

  “I might have been in fierce competition with the jones family, but deep down, we were friends. Her late husband and I started off the lemon pie business before splitting up. And I must admit, she really kicked my ass for the past twenty years. But thanks to my loyal customers, I have managed to stay afloat over the years.

  “So please, if you are looking to make me feel guilty over whatever it is that you want, go ahead. But I will not be cowed by any of your threats. I came here to show support as well as the fact that I have nothing to hide. Understood?”

  Agent Morris smiled as she jotted down some chicken scratch and then looked up at the lemon pie millionaire.

  “I am afraid you got me all wrong. I wasn’t insinuating that you are guilty, I just asked you an innocent question. But you have nothing to worry about. I just needed to ask you a couple of questions and now that I have, you are free to go. If we ever need you, we will give you a call.”

  “Glad to have been of service.”

  ***

  “So, what do you think about Mr. Brown?” Agent Morris asked, staring at her team as sternly as she could, making sure that she wasn’t even getting to blink for a moment or two.

  It was a difficult one for the agents to know whether the millionaire was pretending or he was being real as far as his feelings were concerned. But that said, one of the most important things that he managed to exhibit was control. And when a suspect – a murder suspect for that matter – is in a position to exhibit confidence, it only showed that he was either confident about his innocence, or knows he is guilty but that didn’t really matter as far as they were concerned.

  Either way, it was going to be a very difficult nut to crack as far as they were all concerned.

  “Well, I think I have a hell lot of things going through my mind at the mention of the man. As far as I am concerned, I think he might be innocent or guilty. And that said, we just need to keep on investigating him. That way, we will be in a position to stay on top of our game at all times.”

  “I think Agent Howard has a point there. The best thing that we can do at this moment is to ensure that we are getting to follow our instinct at all times and we will be on top of the game in the end. Anyone else has a different opinion about this case, now is the time to let us know what you feel about everything.”

  And as soon as Agent Morris was done making that speech, a couple of hands went up and that made her smile in her head. When police officers were doing all in their power to participate in a deliberation, then the end result was always going to be incredible in the end. She looked around for a moment, trying to decide who was going to go first. But in the end, Agent Morris planning on hearing them all before coming up with a conclusion.

  “I just hope that the behaviorists have everything that they needed in order to ascertain whether or not Mr. Brown can be a potential threat or not. But that said, the next thing that we need to do is making sure that we are moving on to the next suspect. So far, so good.”

  Agent Morris paused for a moment as though she was trying her level best to find her list as fast as possible. She knew that it would only be a matter of time before they had someone and so she couldn’t hide the excitement that came with that.

  “Oh, ok. Here we go. Apparently, Mrs. Jones had an assistant. And as far as the assistant goes, she has some glitches that she was very smart when it came to
hiding them. She has been known to using any means necessary to get to the top of the food chain in virtually everything she does and finds competition.

  “For instance, when she was applying for the vice presidency of Mrs. Jones’ company, she did all in her power to ensure that she had trounced all the competition. It was just too darn amazing when everyone didn’t show up due to food poisoning. And that said, the only thing that would have mattered at that moment was that she was accepted for the job, flawlessly.

  “They ignored this and now that the unfortunate demise of the only person between the vice and the top seat, I think it would make so much sense if we choose to kick back and embark on some serious digging as far as this one is concerned. I am not trying to show any discrimination but I think there is something that isn’t adding up as far as this woman is concerned.”