Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Series Box Set Volume 1 (Books 1 - 4)

by Cindy Bell

  “Well, we found one. Now, we just have to see if we can find anymore,” she suggested.

  “Let's look more towards the water. The ground is softer there, and my guess would be that whoever it was approached from that direction.”

  Eddy and Samantha began scouring the grass and mud that led down to the water. As Samantha inched her way towards the edge of the water the wind rustled the tall grass that surrounded it. As they walked in silence Samantha's mind raced. She still couldn't believe that she had lost the backpack. It had only been a few minutes between the time she set it down, and the time she went back to look for it. Had the person who took the backpack been watching her the entire time? One thing was for sure, whoever it was knew where she lived.

  “I don't see anything.” Samantha shook her head as she continued to look at the ground.

  “All it takes is one footprint.” Eddy kept his eyes locked to the ground.

  “That's true.” Samantha had to look up. Her neck was starting to ache. She turned to look at the officers who were still down by the water. She could see from where she stood that their shoes were definitely not tennis shoes. As she watched the two officers suddenly hunched down. One whipped out his radio while the other pulled back the tall grass.

  “Eddy, I think they found something,” Samantha said as she watched one of the officers run up the hill to the parked patrol car.

  “It must be something bad. Police officers don't move that fast over a backpack.” Eddy grimaced. “Let's go take a closer look.”

  Samantha nodded and followed after him down the slope of the grass towards the edge of the water. The shorter officer was still hunched down beside the tall grass. When he heard them approaching he whirled around with his gun drawn.

  “Hey, calm down!” Eddy demanded. He positioned himself between the gun and Samantha. Samantha's breath caught in her chest.

  “You both need to step back.” The officer slowly lowered his gun.

  “Yes, officer,” Samantha replied. She moved back slowly. When the second officer returned he had a small medical bag.

  “Clear the way,” he commanded as he brushed past Samantha and Eddy. The tall grass parted as the officer pushed through it. Eddy took a sharp breath as he saw what was beyond it.

  “Don't look, Samantha!” Eddy moved between her and the tall grass. “Trust me.”

  Samantha frowned. She knew that she could handle the sight of whatever Eddy was hiding, but she didn't want to upset him by forcing the issue. She was certain that she would find out soon enough.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “The bus driver.” Eddy frowned. “It looks like he was murdered.”

  Chapter 2

  “Oh no!” Samantha gasped in shock at the realization that the bus driver was dead.

  The driver of the activities bus was at Sage Gardens nearly every day. He was a nice enough man. Samantha hadn't really gotten to know him very well. She didn't often participate in the activities as she preferred to drive on her own wherever she pleased.

  “We should give them some space.” Eddy took her gently by the elbow and steered her away from the grass. Samantha was still a little stunned. The morning had started out in the strangest way, and now before noon it had become tragic. She wasn't sure what to think about the possible connection between the backpack and the body.

  They had both been near the water. Was it possible that the backpack had belonged to Vince, the driver? If it didn't belong to Vince then could it possibly belong to the killer? Could the killer have taken it from outside her door?

  “I see that brain spinning.” Eddy gave her elbow a gentle squeeze. “What is it?”

  “I was just wondering if there might be a connection between the backpack I found and Vince being murdered.” Samantha frowned as she looked back at the flurry of activity by the water. More officers had arrived as well as the coroner's van.

  “It could be a coincidence.” Eddy narrowed his eyes. “But I think it's unlikely. Would you excuse me a moment, Samantha?”

  “Sure.” Samantha nodded and followed his gaze up the hill towards the parking lot. A man was climbing out of a white SUV. Eddy headed straight for the SUV. Samantha took another step back and watched what was unfolding around her. The officers had the crime scene cordoned off.

  Samantha noticed a few of the residents of Sage Gardens poking their heads out of their villas to see what was happening. She knew that the murder would be all anyone would talk about. Since Samantha was involved, she would be battered with questions the moment they could get her alone. Samantha didn't care about that. She cared about the young man who was now dead. Had he been there in the grass when she was drinking her tea that morning? She felt awful at the idea. She had been enjoying the view and trying to relax, all the time not knowing that someone had been murdered only a few feet away. She shivered and started to walk back towards her villa.

  “Samantha, wait,” Eddy called out to her as he made his way down the hill. The man from the SUV was trailing right behind him. Samantha squinted against the mid-morning sun as the man drew closer.

  “Samantha, this is Detective Brunner, he's running the investigation into the murder.” Eddy gestured towards the younger man who was searching through his cell phone.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Detective Brunner.” Samantha waited for the man to look up, but he did not.

  “I thought Detective Brunner might want to speak with you since you are the one who found the bag,” Eddy explained.

  “Of course,” Samantha replied with some hesitation. She wasn't sure if she wanted to speak to the detective. After all, she hadn't seen anyone. She had only fished out a backpack. She wasn't sure what good that could do the investigation. Yet again she would have to face her own foolishness when she admitted that she had let the backpack go missing in order to protect her carpets.

  “Now, you say that you were down by the water when you spotted the backpack.” Detective Brunner did not look up from his phone.

  “That's right.” Samantha nodded. “I was having a cup of tea.”

  “You noticed the backpack in the water, and you thought you should get it out, is that right?” Detective Brunner tapped lightly on the screen of his phone. Samantha didn't think it was very polite not to even look in her direction, but she also knew that Detective Brunner was a busy man and he was focused on the crime, which was important. He was likely perusing photographs of suspects, or close ups of the crime scene.

  “Well, I figured it must belong to someone. I thought maybe someone had left it behind and somehow it got pushed into the water.” She wondered if it would have been better if she had left the backpack in the water. Maybe no one else would have found it. What did it matter that she had found it? It was gone now, and she was stuck answering questions.

  “I see.” He jerked his hand with the cell phone in it. Then he grunted. “Lost again,” he muttered. When he tucked his phone into his pocket Samantha caught a glimpse of the screen. He had been playing some kind of game. Her eyes widened at the sight. She glanced over at Eddy but he didn't seem to notice.

  “Maybe the backpack was with the body?” Eddy swept his gaze over the tall grass. “Maybe the body washed up in the grass.”

  “No, it looks like he was murdered where we found his body.” Detective Brunner glanced over his shoulder. “The body was hidden by the grass. If we hadn't been looking for the backpack it probably would have taken a few days before the body was found. It makes me think that whoever did this didn’t have time to move the body or was planning on getting out of town pretty fast.”

  “How terrible.” Samantha shook her head. “He was a nice man.”

  “Did you know him well?” Detective Brunner looked at her with interest.

  Samantha felt a pang of guilt as she thought about whether she should have taken the time to get to know Vince better. He was the type that would crack a joke and always seemed to be laughing. She hadn’t really made the effort to talk to him. She
felt like she had tried her best to connect with people at Sage Gardens, but had found that she was rejected by the social butterflies that ran all of the events. She had settled into a strange but satisfying friendship with Eddy and a few others. That was enough for her.

  “No, I didn't know him well. I just saw him come and go. He was the driver for the activities bus,” she explained. “I don't think I have ever even had a conversation with him.”

  “Then what made you think he was nice?” Detective Brunner asked.

  “He was courteous. He would help his passengers up the steps if they needed it. He always said hello to the office staff. Any time I saw him he was smiling or laughing,” Samantha said as she looked back over at the grass. “I can't understand why anyone would want to kill him.”

  “Maybe for the backpack full of drugs?” Detective Brunner spoke in a dry tone.

  Samantha narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. She felt as if Detective Brunner was making fun of her.

  “If she remembers anything else, I'll let you know.” Eddy offered his hand to Detective Brunner. Detective Brunner gave it a quick shake. Then he began walking over to the crime scene.

  “He's a new detective,” Eddy muttered, as if that explained the detective's behavior. “He's still getting his feet wet.”

  “Eddy, I know that he is a detective, but I don't think he's taking this case very seriously.” Samantha frowned with concern. She didn't think it was appropriate at all that he was playing a game during an investigation.

  “You have to understand, Sam, that detectives see these types of crimes all the time. Just because it may not seem like he's focused on the case, doesn't mean that he isn't. It's just that finding a dead body isn't as shocking to them after seeing so many.” Eddy shrugged. “I'm sure he'll do a fine job.”

  “I think that it should be shocking every time,” Samantha said heatedly as she watched the body bag being loaded into the back of the coroner's van. “He was somebody. He deserves a thorough investigation into his murder.”

  “You're right. I'll keep an eye on him. If he's not up to snuff then I'll look into it further. All right?” He placed a hand lightly on the curve of Samantha's shoulder. Samantha relaxed a little at the touch. Despite how tough and standoffish Eddy could be, he often knew the right moment to be tender.

  “I think that we need to find out some things for ourselves, too. I mean the backpack is still missing. Plus we found that footprint.” Samantha started to walk back up the hill. “We should see if we can pick up the trail.”

  “Samantha.” Eddy followed after her. “This really isn't the kind of case to get into the middle of. I mean we have no idea who this man was. Maybe this happened because of criminal activity. Maybe someone was getting revenge. It's best to let the authorities look into it.”

  “Oh, I'll let them all right. But the moment that they don't follow through, I'll be looking into things for myself.” Samantha's eyes narrowed with determination. She felt that there was more to the murder than the police would assume. Something just did not feel right about it.

  “I bet you will.” Eddy offered her a tolerant smile. “Why don't we go have that tea that you missed out on? We should let Walt know what happened. You know he doesn't handle surprises well.”

  “Good idea.” Samantha looked towards Walt's villa with concern. As a retired accountant Walt liked things to be a certain way, and finding a body in the grass near his home was sure to make him uneasy. As they walked towards Walt's villa, Samantha couldn't help looking back at the crime scene. She saw that the police had roped off a good portion of it, but she thought that they should have roped off more. Everyone who lived in Sage Gardens was at least a little nosy. The police could lose a lot of evidence if residents began trampling so close to the crime scene. “I just want to take one more quick look at the crime scene. Okay?”

  Eddy tried not to smile at her. She had the mind of a cop whether she wanted to admit it or not, and he admired her for it, whether he liked to admit it or not. He nodded. “A quick look.”

  The two walked back over to the roped off area. Samantha was careful to give the crime scene a wide berth. She crouched down and looked towards the tall grass. “How was he positioned, Eddy?”

  “His head was towards the water.” Eddy glanced over the blood stained grass. “It looked like he had fallen backwards.”

  “So, the attacker probably came from up the hill.” Samantha looked up towards the hill. “But that doesn't make much sense.”

  “Why not?” Eddy asked.

  Samantha stood up and turned to face the hill. “If I was standing here, I could see anyone who was coming.”

  “That's true.” Eddy looked up the hill and then back down at the water. “If I saw someone who I was afraid of, I certainly would not have run towards the water.”

  “So, it's possible that the killer is someone that Vince knew.” Samantha smiled.

  “Good eye, Samantha.” Eddy was about to turn away from the crime scene when he noticed something just beyond the yellow tape. There was another indentation in the soil. He leaned closer. “Samantha, get your phone out. I think we've found another footprint.”

  Samantha pulled out her cell phone and aimed it where Eddy pointed. The footprint was not as well defined, but it was there. The imprint seemed similar to the other footprint, but it was difficult to tell for sure.

  “Got it,” she said confidently.

  “Great. Can you send those pictures to me?” he asked hopefully as he wasn't quite sure how that worked.

  “No problem. They should be in your e-mail in a few minutes.”

  “Thanks. Maybe we can get a good enough image to make a match if we make the pictures larger. Let's head over to Walt's and see what he thinks of all of this.”

  Eddy began walking up the hill. Samantha followed after him. As she climbed the hill she imagined what it would have been like to see her killer looking down at her. Did Vince know him? Did Vince call out his name? Was he happy to see him? She shuddered at the thought.

  Chapter 3

  Walt was already on his porch when Eddy and Samantha walked up to his villa.

  “What's going on?” Walt looked anxious as he gripped the railing of the porch. “I saw the police cars taking off.”

  “We're here to tell you. But maybe we should go inside?” Eddy nodded towards Samantha. “Samantha needs something for her nerves.”

  “I'm fine, Eddy.” Samantha shot him a stubborn look.

  “Sure you are.” He gestured for all of them to step inside. Walt held the door for Samantha. Once they were inside he set a pot of tea on the stove to brew.

  “It must be something bad. It's something bad isn't it?” Walt frowned. He ran his fingertips along the tea bags to make sure that they were all evenly placed inside the box.

  “The police found the body of the activities bus driver in the grass by the water,” Eddy explained.

  “Vince, wasn't it?” Walt asked. “How terrible. He seemed like a good person.”

  “Did you ever talk to him?” Samantha asked.

  “Not really. You know I can't stand the idea of getting on one of those buses.” He cringed at the very idea. “They are very unsafe, and impossible to keep clean.” He poured tea for each of them and set the cups down on napkins on the table. “How did he die?”

  “It looks like he was stabbed,” Eddy's voice lowered slightly. Samantha was suddenly glad that Eddy hadn't allowed her to take a closer look. From his expression she could tell that it was a gory sight.

  “How terrible,” Walt repeated. “This is going to get all of the residents pretty upset.”

  “So, none of us really knew him?” Samantha added. “It seems sad, doesn't it? That someone can be a regular part of your life without you ever getting to know them?”

  “Well, it's a bit like the gardener I suppose.” Walt shrugged.

  “I actually know Simon pretty well.” Samantha smiled. “He always gives me tips for my little garden.�
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  “Simon is very friendly.” Eddy nodded his head in agreement.

  “Well, I didn't mean this gardener, but I mean when we are in our daily routine it is easy to overlook the people that only play a small role,” he said. “If that makes sense.”

  “I guess.” Samantha nodded a little. “I just wish I hadn’t let the backpack out of my sight.”

  “Backpack?” Walt questioned.

  “Samantha found a backpack in the river before the body was found,” Eddy explained. “It had drugs in it, cocaine. But when she brought it up to her villa she left it outside, because it was wet, and a few minutes later when she took me to see it, it was missing.”

  “Wow!” Walt said with wide eyes. “I wonder who took it. You need to be very careful, Sam.”

  “I will be.” She nodded. “I still think that it's important that we find out what really happened to Vince. I have a feeling that the police will be eager to dismiss the murder as quickly as they discovered it.”

  “What makes you think that?” Eddy asked. He spoke with a bit of defensiveness in his voice.

  “I think it will be easy to just assume that Vince's death was drug related, rather than looking into it thoroughly. I don't mean that they won't do their job, Eddy. I just think they’ll try to solve the murder as quickly as possible. I doubt that they will consider Vince an important person,” she said grimacing. “It's not right, but it's the truth, isn't it?”

  “Not always. You have to have a little more faith in the police, Samantha. Let's give them their chance to investigate and see what they turn up. Like I said before, if I don't think they're doing a good job of it, then we'll decide if we want to get involved. All right?” He looked at Samantha, hoping that she would agree.

  Samantha was silent as she stared down at the table. Walt stood up and began to clear the tea cups from the table.

  “Eddy is right, we need to let this rest for now, Samantha,” Walt said sternly, but his gaze was gentle. “There's no need to get in the middle of things when we don't know any more information than the police do. I mean, what could we possibly find out that they couldn't?” He carried the cups over to the sink and set them carefully inside.