Up in Smoke (Glock Grannies Cozy Mystery Book 1)

by Shannon VanBergen

  Grandma thanked him and we drove off, back toward downtown.

  “Cliff seems nice,” I said as we drove along.

  “He’s very nice,” she said. “He’s the kind of guy who would do anything for anybody.”

  When we got back to Grandma’s shop, she immediately put me to work sweeping the floors and throwing away all the junk that littered the place. It seemed to be smaller than her old shop, but it was hard for me to tell since I had never actually been in her old one—just looked at it through the busted windows on the day it went up in flames.

  While I cleaned, Grandma sorted through the boxes that Cliff dropped off in the first load. She was excited when a few of her friends stopped by to see if we’d made any progress. I stayed toward the back of the store while they chatted and listened to Grandma Dean give them her vision for her new shop. This was the happiest I had seen her since I moved there.

  An hour later, Cliff was back with the second load and a bag of burgers and fries from a fast food restaurant. I was sure Grandma would turn her nose up at it, but she must have been as hungry as I was because she not only scarfed them down before me but she also finished her Diet Coke before I’d gotten halfway through mine.

  “All right, ladies,” Cliff said, stuffing his napkin and burger wrapper in a paper sack. “I’m off to get the third load! I think it’s the last one too!”

  Grandma thanked him and offered to pay for the food, but Cliff shook it off. Lloyd was right. Everyone did like Grandma in this town. I loved how everyone seemed so happy that she was getting back to work again.

  With Cliff gone, we got back to work. It was quiet in the store as Grandma sorted through boxes, putting things in piles and breaking down the cardboard when each box was empty. I was making progress pulling down shelves and bagging up garbage. We were both lost in our own thoughts when Cliff barged back in the door a little while later. His entrance startled us both, and even more so when we saw the look on his face.

  “Cliff,” Grandma said, rushing to him. “What’s wrong?”

  He looked from her to me and then back to Grandma Dean again. “Geraldine, I’m so sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?” she asked confused.

  “I…I thought I locked your storage unit, but I guess I didn’t. When I got back there, everything inside was gone.”

  “What do you mean ‘gone’? Like stolen?” I heard Grandma’s voice crack a little.

  Cliff shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Geraldine.”

  Grandma looked like she was going to faint. I rushed to her side and she pushed me away. “I’m calling Owen,” she said, reaching for her phone.

  Oh great, I thought. Him.

  Grandma dialed his number and walked away, leaving Cliff and I standing by the door.

  “Who would do this?” I asked, almost to myself.

  “I don’t know,” Cliff said. “I feel so bad about this. How could I be so careless?”

  “It’s not your fault,” I comforted him.

  We were quiet for a moment. “You don’t think there’s any link to the fire, do you?” I asked Cliff.

  He was silent and I didn’t think he heard me at first. Finally, he spoke up. “I don’t know. If I left the unit unlocked, anybody who drove by could’ve seen the padlock missing.” He let out a deep sigh. “Heck, I don’t even know for sure if I closed the door when I left that second time.”

  Okay, maybe it was his fault.

  Grandma Dean returned, her face red with anger. “Owen is on his way.”

  Just then my phone rang. It was Joe.

  For a minute, I thought about not answering, but then I thought that maybe he had some more information for me and would want me to meet him somewhere. That would give me the perfect reason to leave and avoid talking to Detective Owen.

  “Hey,” I answered as casually as I could. “What’s up?”

  “Hey, Nikki… I was just wondering if…if maybe you and I could get together for coffee or something. I hate the way things ended between us the other day and I thought…”

  I cut him off. “Can you meet right now?”

  He sounded surprised…and relieved.

  “Yeah, uh, how about the coffee shop on Palm Breeze Drive?”

  I was hoping he would pick the one downtown since I was just a few blocks away and within walking distance, but I agreed. Hopefully, Grandma Dean would let me borrow her car for a little bit. Was that too much to ask when she was in the middle of another crisis? But then I thought about it. Most likely she would be stuck here talking to the police for a while anyway. I might even be back before they left. Ugh, I hoped not.

  I told him I would meet him there in fifteen minutes. I asked Grandma Dean if I could borrow her keys and she handed them to me like she was in a daze.

  “Cliff, can you stay with her until the police get here?” I asked him. “I have to meet someone really quick. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I won’t leave her side,” he promised me.

  As I walked out the door, Detective Owen was pulling up. We made eye contact briefly and I tried to hurry to Grandma’s car before he got out of his. Unfortunately, he was faster than I was.

  “Nikki,” he called out to me just as I was opening the car door. “Do you have a minute?”

  I stopped and gave him my best dirty look. “What do you want?” I asked coldly.

  “I…um…I’m sorry about what happened the other day at the coffee shop. I was just doing my job, but…” He stopped and looked at me sincerely. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Two apologies from two hot guys in one day. Grandma Dean may be having a terrible day, but mine seemed to be going pretty well.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, forgiving him. “Just please take care of my grandma. She’s pretty shook up over this last incident.”

  “I will,” he promised.

  I got in the car and watched him walk into Grandma’s new shop. Suddenly, I wanted to forget about Joe and follow Owen inside.

  I put my head back on the seat. This was how I got myself into so much trouble with guys. This was how I ended up with so many ex-husbands. I shamed myself for being so weak and pulled out of the parking space. Suddenly, something got my attention from across the street, or rather, someone. Perry Landon stood on the curb staring at me. Why was he there? Why was he watching me?

  12

  The Palm Breeze Coffee Shop looked more like a snow cone hut than a coffee shop. It was painted bright blue with white trim and had two large palm trees out front. Adirondack chairs with little tables sitting between them were set up on a side patio.

  I looked around and felt very out of place. The coffee shop was packed with tan girls in flip-flops, short shorts, and high ponytails. This must have been where the popular girls went to get their coffee.

  I found Joe surrounded by a group of extra perky double-Ds. I watched him for a moment before I went over and claimed him. Even though he was clearly enjoying the attention from the beautiful women, he seemed shy and a little awkward. I knew right then that he was a one-woman kind of guy.

  “Hey, Joe!” I said as I approached him. He smiled and I saw his face flush a little.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, turning sideways and squeezing past them.

  I couldn’t help but see them look me up and down, clearly unimpressed. I could’ve been offended, but honestly, I didn’t know what men saw in me either. I didn’t have amazing features or a to-die-for body. And I could never get my hair in one of those perfect, sleeked back ponytails.

  We ordered our drinks and took a seat on the patio.

  “So,” I said, removing the little paper umbrella that was sticking out of my coconut frappe, “what did you want to talk about?”

  Joe sighed and sat his drink on the table. He leaned closer to me. “I feel really bad about the other day. I don’t know what came over me. One minute, I was irritated with my brother; the next, I was embarrassed by my cousin Eddie; and the next, I was kissing you.
” He shook his head and looked down at his shoes. “I was out of line and I’m sorry.”

  He looked so cute when he felt bad.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling. “I’ve had much worse things happen to me.” I gave him a wink and he straightened back up in his chair. I could almost see the guilt slip away.

  Part of me wanted to explain my situation to him, but part of me didn’t even know where to start. I decided instead to change the subject.

  “So the person who set fire to Grandma Dean’s shop might have struck again.”

  Joe’s face turned serious. “What happened?”

  I told him about the second shop and Cliff Sinner delivering the boxes and then how the last load was stolen before he made it back to the storage unit. “Who do you think would do something like that?” I asked him.

  He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “I have a bad feeling about that Perry Landon guy,” I said, stirring my drink. “I saw him when I was leaving Grandma’s shop today. He was standing across the street, staring at me.”

  “That guy’s harmless,” Joe said, picking up his glass and taking a drink. “This stuff is crazy good. Wanna try it? It’s mango iced tea.”

  I thought about it for a minute and decided to pass. I was too irritated at the moment to share a drink.

  “How can you say he’s harmless?” I asked him. “He was always at Grandma’s shop before it went up in flames and now he’s across the street from her new one spying on her!”

  “You don’t know if he was spying on her.” His voice softened when he realized I was upset. “Look, Nikki, I know you want to figure out who is doing this to Geraldine, but I really think Perry is innocent. He’s a quiet guy and I think he’s just misunderstood.” He could tell I wasn’t buying it. “The police will catch the criminal,” he soothed. “Owen is a good detective. He’ll figure it all out.”

  I scoffed. “Yeah, right. I have zero faith in the guy.” That wasn’t necessarily true, but my emotions were getting the best of me at the moment.

  Joe’s phone started beeping and he looked at it. “Sorry,” he said, stuffing it back in his pocket and standing up. “I’ve gotta go. There’s a fire and it’s all hands on deck.”

  My blood went cold. “Please tell me it’s not downtown.”

  He laughed and extended his hand to help me up from my chair. “No, it’s at a factory on the other side of town.”

  I should’ve felt relieved, but for some reason I didn’t. We said our good-byes and I got back in Grandma Dean’s car. I felt so uneasy. What was happening in this town? What was happening with Grandma Dean?

  As soon as I got in the car, I got a text. When I tried to read it, I spilled my frappe on my pants.

  “Crap,” I said as I put it in the cup holder. I glanced at my phone and saw that it was from Grandma Dean:

  “Got a ride home from Detective Owen. Will see you when you get here.”

  I put the phone on my lap and reached for the glove compartment, hoping for some napkins. When I opened it, something black fell out. I left it lying on the floor for a minute while I grabbed a package of handy wipes and went to work wiping off my hands and pants and then the center console, which I realized also had drops of frappe on it. I sure could make a mess.

  With everything cleaned up, I returned the package of wipes to the glove compartment and leaned over to pick up the item that had fallen on the floor. It looked like a black knitted hat, which surprised me since this was Florida…and that wasn’t a hat I pictured Grandma Dean wearing. I unfolded it to get a better look and my heart nearly stopped beating. It wasn’t just a regular knitted hat, it was a ski mask. I quickly shoved it back in the glove compartment and sat up straight in my seat. What had Grandma Dean gotten herself into?

  By the time I got to Grandma Dean’s house, I was furious. I grabbed the ski mask before I stormed inside. I was tired of her lies—or at the very least, her half-truths. I wanted answers.

  When I walked in, she was in the living room sorting through her mail. I threw the ski mask on the coffee table in front of her.

  “What is this?” I demanded.

  Her face went pale and she stammered for a moment. “It…it appears to be a hat of some sort.”

  “I know what it is!” I shouted. “What I want to know is, why was it in your car?”

  She looked up, but remained silent.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I burst into tears, partly out of anger and partly out of frustration.

  “Nikki,” she said, patting the couch next to her. “Come sit with me.”

  “You’re guilty of something! What is it?! Did you burn your own shop down for the insurance money like Owen thinks you did? Did you burn down the factory across town too? Is that your thing? You and your little group, you all look innocent but you’re really planning your next crime!”

  Her face turned to stone for a moment and then she burst into laughter. “Nikki, please come sit with me. I’ll tell you everything. It’s not what you think!”

  I stood across from her and refused to sit down. Why was she laughing? This wasn’t funny. This was serious.

  She sighed and picked up the ski mask. “I wear this from time to time when the girls and I…” she paused and looked up at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit?”

  “No. I’m fine. Now go on.”

  She cleared her throat. “There are small crimes that are committed in this community and the girls and I don’t feel like the police take them seriously.” She looked up at me like she had just explained everything in detail and was finished with her story.

  I gave her a look to let her know that she hadn’t.

  “Do you want me to spell it out for you?” She sounded irritated.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Fine, Nikki. We patrol the streets at night and take matters into our own hands. We meet a few times a week and talk about things that are happening in our community and then we go out and take care of it. Sometimes that means doing a good deed for someone and sometimes that means catching a criminal in the act. But no matter what we do, it’s done in secrecy.”

  “Why were you talking about getting money at your last meeting?”

  “I knew that noise wasn’t the cat.” She shot me a dirty look. “Sometimes, we get rewards for tipping the police or for turning in a suspect. We use that money to do something nice for someone in the community that needs it.”

  I stood there thinking it over. If what she was saying was true, then she was a modern day superhero.

  I finally walked over and sat next to her on the couch. She looked so tiny to me all of a sudden. I didn’t like the idea of her out there catching bad guys and putting herself in harm’s way. She must have read my mind.

  “It’s okay, Nikki,” she said, her voice soft. “We’re careful. That’s why I have one of these, so people don’t recognize me. We all wear one.” She sighed and picked up the ski mask. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid someone we turned in found out my identity and now they’re trying to get back at me.”

  I gasped. It all made sense now. Someone was retaliating against her for turning them in. “Do you have any idea who it is? Does Detective Owen know about all of this?”

  “He knows as much as he needs to know,” Grandma said, putting the ski mask down. “And no, I’m not sure who started the fire or stole my things. But believe me, we’re going to find out one way or another. The Glock Grannies always get our man…or woman…and one time, an alligator wearing a wedding dress.”

  For a moment, I thought she was joking about the alligator until I saw her get lost in her thoughts and shudder. There was a lot more to Geraldine Dean than I originally thought, and I had a feeling we were just scratching the surface.

  13

  It only took a few days to get the shop in order, and we couldn’t have done it without Cliff Sinner’s help. The three of us had a system: I cleaned, Grandma Dean unpacked the boxes, and Cliff hauled away the trash
and empty boxes. Cliff and I both helped Grandma Dean set up the shop to her liking and when it was finished, we stood back to admire our hard work. It looked like an antique shop.

  “There’s a lot more I’d like to do,” Grandma Dean said, rubbing her lower back. “But I think this is good for now.”

  “It looks real nice,” Cliff said, looking around. “You ought to be real proud of yourself for getting it up and running so quickly.”

  “Well, I couldn’t have done it without you…or Nikki.”

  I was exhausted. As we turned out the lights and locked up, I said a silent prayer that Grandma Dean’s grand opening tomorrow would go off without a hitch and whoever was trying to sabotage her would stay far, far away. I shuddered thinking about it. Both Grandma Dean and Joe had a lot of faith that Owen would catch the person behind all the trouble, but I was afraid they were all looking at the wrong person.

  “Oh!” Grandma said just before she opened the store for the first time. “I forgot about the sign! Cliff, would you hang it out front for me?”

  “Sure thing,” he said, putting down the rag he had been using to dust off the furniture.

  Grandma disappeared in the back of the store and came back carrying the sign. As she handed it to Cliff, I got a glimpse of it for the first time. It was teal with big white letters that said, “Junk in the Trunk.” All this time I had been there and I had never even asked Grandma what the name of her store was, and now that I knew, I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “That’s the name of your store? Junk in the Trunk?”

  “Yes,” she said proudly, handing the sign to Cliff. “I’ve tried to get one of the Kardashians to visit the store, but so far no one has replied to my letters. But one day they will. I just know it!”

  Cliff disappeared out the front door and Grandma looked at me and took a deep breath. “Are you ready?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Oh, here!” she said, handing me her phone. “Take a picture of me turning the sign to “open.” I’ll post it on my social media pages later today!”