by Josie Belle
“That is distinctive,” Dot said. “A streak of lime green like that will stick in the brain. How’d that happen, anyway?”
“I was doing some painting over at Mrs. Tibbets’s day care center,” Tyler said. “One of the little crumb crunchers decided to paint my truck green. Luckily, I caught him before he moved on from the bumper.”
“Oh, yeah, that could have cost you,” Sam agreed.
“A splash of paint doesn’t prove anything,” Summer said to her mother. “I’m sure a lot of trucks have splatters of paint on them.”
“In that shade of green?” Blair asked.
No one said anything, and Maggie had a feeling it was because no one wanted to agree with her, especially since what she said was true.
“And he hates me for keeping him away from Summer!” Blair cried, obviously feeling the lack of support in the room.
“But I didn’t shoot anyone. I wouldn’t,” Tyler protested. “I don’t even own a gun.”
Sam stepped forward and took Tyler’s elbow. “Let’s go have a chat, Tyler.”
“Maggie, do something,” Tyler pleaded as Sam started to lead him away. “I only came here to help you.”
“He did,” Maggie said. But suddenly, nothing was as it seemed, and her voice lost its conviction as she added, “We came by to pick up the desks.”
Sam gave her a sympathetic glance, as if he knew she was reeling.
“That’ll have to wait for another time. Deputy Wilson, take a statement from Blair, would you?” Sam asked. “I’m going to take Tyler in back.”
“You’re not arresting him, are you?” Maggie asked.
“Yes, of course he is,” Blair said. “He tried to kill me. He’s your suspect. He probably killed Bruce, too, to exact his revenge upon me. Oh, my poor, darling Bruce.”
Blair began to sob and wail. Summer put a reluctant arm around her mother’s shoulder and offered her comfort. Her eyes stayed on Tyler, however, and she looked stricken.
“I didn’t kill Bruce!” Tyler argued. “I swear! Summer, you have to believe me!”
“I do,” Summer said. “I do believe you.”
Blair let out an outraged gasp and, at that point, everyone started yelling. Maggie saw Blair’s driver break free of her hold and bolt for the door. She thought he had the right idea but knew she’d never get away with it.
An ear-piercing whistle was emitted over the shrieks and yells, and it had everyone clapping their hands over their ears. Dot lowered the two fingers from her mouth and pointed for Sam and Tyler to go to the back. Neither of them said a word. They just went.
Once they were out of sight, Dot spoke, “If you ladies would come with me, I’ll take down your statement, Blair.”
“What can I do?” Maggie asked.
“Oh, I think you’ve done enough,” Summer snapped. “Your man is about to arrest mine for a murder he didn’t commit. Are you satisfied now?”
Maggie threw her hands up in the air. Wasn’t that nice? Here she was trying to help the ungrateful woman and all she got for it was attitude.
And while, yes, she had to admit the whole thing had blown up on her, she really felt that her intentions should count for something, shouldn’t they?
Apparently not, since Dot took Summer and her mother to another room in the back, leaving Maggie standing alone in the front of the station. Pulling her gloves and hat out of her pockets, she yanked them on before she headed out into the cold to walk back to her shop.
• • •
“Do you think Tyler did it?” Ginger asked over a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
Maggie had brewed a large pot of the bad mood elixir in the break room, which was in reality just a counter in the storeroom, in anticipation of her friends’ arrival. It was the best recipe in the world, which Sam had gotten from his cousin, a restaurant owner in Massachusetts—with cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and vanilla, there was no foul mood that this recipe couldn’t cure.
Well, except for maybe Tyler Fawkes’s current bad mood. Maggie had debated bringing him some cocoa, but since Dot had texted her that Sam was keeping him in the jail as a person of interest, she didn’t think cocoa was going to help Tyler. Not right now, at any rate.
“No, I don’t think Tyler did it,” Maggie said. “Well, maybe? No, no, definitely not!”
“Well, that was conclusive,” Ginger said.
They were sitting in the comfy seats in the lounge area of Maggie’s shop. She had closed for the evening, but they were waiting for Claire to join them so that they could go over their Presidents’ Day shopping plan. Maggie and Ginger had already scoured the flyers and determined which stores to hit in what order, but they wanted Claire’s input as well.
“I just can’t imagine that he would. I mean, Tyler’s the original gentle giant. He looks scary, but he’s really a big teddy bear,” Maggie said. “Then again, Blair did break them up.”
“But to whack Bruce with a hammer?” Ginger asked. “I just don’t see it.”
“I know,” Maggie said. “I’ve been afraid to call Sam, as I really am trying to mind my own business.”
Ginger raised her eyebrows. A knock on the glass door sounded before she could say anything, for which Maggie was relieved. She felt bad enough about today’s debacle without adding Ginger’s worries for her and Sam on top of it.
She hurried to the door and unlocked it, pushing it open so Claire could come in. She brought with her a nip of cold, and Ginger was already pouring a hot chocolate for her as she took a seat and began to unwrap herself from her hat, scarf, gloves and coat.
“What a day, huh?” Claire asked.
“And then some,” Maggie said.
Claire cupped her mug of chocolate and blew on it. “I have news.”
“Yes?” Ginger and Maggie asked together.
“Tyler has an alibi for Bruce’s murder,” she said. “Pete told me over dinner.”
Now why didn’t Sam tell me that? Maggie asked.
“Hush,” Ginger shushed her. “What alibi?”
“This is the best part,” Claire said. Then she took a long sip of her cocoa.
“Oh, come on,” Maggie said. “You’re killing me here.”
Both Ginger and Claire looked at her.
“Sorry, bad choice of words,” she said.
“Well, Tyler couldn’t have murdered Bruce, because he was using his truck to help Doc Franklin move back home,” Claire said.
“Doc and Alice are back together?” Ginger asked. “No kidding?”
“Word on the street is that Doc pulled out all the stops on Valentine’s Day and wore Alice down,” Claire said. “Apparently, the gazebo was all decorated, and he saw it and used it as a place to plead his case.”
Maggie smiled. Sam would be happy to hear that the gazebo had helped Doc out, too.
She took a long sip of her hot chocolate and then heaved a sigh of relief. Doc Franklin had been Maggie’s boss for over twenty years, as she had done the medical billing for his small practice since she was in high school.
Doc and Alice had been like a second family to Maggie and her daughter, and when they had split up a few months ago, Maggie had taken it harder than anyone save the two of them.
She felt a lump in her throat and had to swallow before she could speak. “That’s great news. Really great.”
“Well, for Tyler’s sake, the timing couldn’t have been better,” Claire said. “Doc gave a sworn statement that Tyler was with him all day hauling furniture.”
“Thank goodness,” Ginger said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t shoot at Blair.”
“No, and two witnesses have said they saw his truck speed through town at the time of the shooting,” Claire said.
“Is Sam still holding him?” Maggie asked.
“He has to,” Claire said. “More for Tyler’s sake
than anything else. Sam told Pete when he came to get his afternoon coffee that if another move is made on Blair, that’ll set Tyler free. He’s also assigned Dot to be Blair’s shadow until Bruce’s murderer is caught. So it sounds like Sam doesn’t think it’s Tyler but is trying to help him out.”
“I wonder if Tyler sees it that way,” Ginger said.
“I don’t know, but I’m trying to picture Dot and Blair together twenty-four/seven. That’s going to be interesting,” Maggie said.
“I wonder if Dot is getting hazard pay,” Ginger said.
“What did you discover from looking over the Cassidy finances?” Maggie asked Ginger.
“Not much more than the fact that they are loaded,” Ginger said. “I’d need more access to their accounts to dig deeper, but from what I could tell, Bruce and Blair Cassidy lived large and liked it that way.”
“Was there any indication of who would profit from Bruce’s death?” Maggie asked. Ginger and Claire both looked at her. “Other than Blair and Summer?”
“If Sela Cassidy is Bruce’s first wife and she can be found, she would be it. But there’s no financial record of her anywhere. It’s as if she vanished, so I don’t know,” Ginger said.
“With a court order, Sam can do a much more detailed search, but as far as I could see in the public records databases I accessed, Bruce had no other heirs,” Claire said.
“What do we know about Sela?” Maggie asked. “Did she have any family?”
“Maggie Gerber!” a voice barked from the door. “What part of ‘butt out’ are you not getting?”
Maggie jumped at the male voice, then she put her hand over her chest to calm her rioting heart.
“You sounded just like Sam and you almost gave me a heart attack,” she said. “That was not funny, Maxwell Button!”
“Well, neither is leaving your door unlocked when there is a murderer on the loose,” Max said. “I have a good mind to tell Sam how irresponsible you’re being.”
“Blah, blah, blah.” Maggie waved him off. “Hollow threats will not get you hot chocolate.”
“Homemade with marshmallows?” he asked.
“Mmm-hmm,” Maggie murmured.
“Fine, I’ll quit badgering.” Max stomped across the floor toward the sitting area.
“And you won’t tell Sam,” Maggie said.
“Fine,” he agreed. “Now pony up the goods.”
Tall and lanky, Max appeared to be all arms and legs, but he wore a well-cut navy suit that gave him a few more manly angles, and his black hair, which used to hang over his face, was neatly trimmed and professional-looking. Maggie couldn’t help but marvel at how her young friend had cleaned up once he found the motivation in the form of a lovely young woman named Bianca Madison.
Maxwell Button was St. Stanley’s resident genius. A throwaway kid with super smarts, the entire town, particularly Claire, had helped raise him, and now at the age of twenty, he had a law degree and had passed the bar as well as an advanced degree for any other subject that had caught his fancy, of which there were many.
“How’s school going?” Claire asked him.
Claire and Max had a long history, since Claire was the one who had found him squatting in the town library when he was a teen and had been pivotal in getting him back in school. When she discovered his smarts were off the chart, she helped him to get a job and find a place to live as well.
Sadly, Max’s own parents were not involved in their son’s life, preferring their isolated existence in their trailer on the outskirts of town. It had been Claire who guided Max’s journey to college, especially the pursuit of his law degree.
“I’m almost finished,” he said. “I just have to write my dissertation.”
Ginger poured him a mug of cocoa and pushed the bag of marshmallows at him.
“Remind me again why an attorney needs an art history degree?” she asked.
He grinned. “It helps keep my brain sharp.”
“Any other advanced degrees in the offing, boy genius?” Maggie asked.
“That’s man genius now,” he corrected her. “No, in fact, I’m looking to take on a new position altogether.”
“But I thought you liked working for Judge Harding,” Maggie said.
“I do. It’s not that position that I’m looking to change,” he said. “I’m sort of hoping for a promotion elsewhere, if you get my drift.”
Maggie glanced at Ginger and Claire. They were as perplexed as she was. The three of them looked at him with matching puzzled expressions; clearly, they had no idea what he was talking about. Goodness, she hoped he wasn’t going back to delivering pizza and working at the Frosty Freeze again.
“Here, I’ll show you,” he said. Max reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small burgundy velvet box.
Chapter 20
Maggie, Claire and Ginger gasped as one. Max looked up with wide eyes. “What? Is there a spider on me?”
“Max!” They wailed in unison.
He grinned, then he looked nervous. “Okay, you have to tell me if you think Bianca will like it.”
He popped the lid and Maggie felt her jaw drop. The others were silent as they took in the sight of the sparkly before them.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked. His voice was tense, as if he was fearing the worst.
“Oh, my eyes, my eyes,” Maggie cried as she threw up her hands to shield her view.
“All I can see are spots!” Ginger said. “It’s like staring at the sun.”
Claire laughed and reached forward to take the box from Max’s hand and look at the ring more closely.
“Max, it’s stunning,” she said.
Max met Claire’s gaze, and for just a nanosecond he looked wistful. Max had carried a torch for the librarian since she’d stepped into his life as a teen, but then he had met and fallen for Bianca, leaving his crush on the older woman behind. Maggie and Ginger exchanged a glance and she knew Ginger had noted the same thing she had.
“It’s perfect for Bianca,” Claire said. “She’s going to love it.”
“Thanks,” Max said. He grinned, and the moment between them passed like a whisper on the wind.
Maggie took the small box from Claire to see the dazzler more clearly. A large, round diamond was nestled in a ring of channel-set sapphires in a platinum band. It truly was magnificent.
She handed it to Ginger so she could see it, too.
“How did you manage to pay for that?” Maggie asked. “Sell a kidney?”
“Close,” he said. “I financed most of it, but I got the down payment by agreeing to become Blair Cassidy’s personal attorney.”
“Oh, wow, are you sure you wouldn’t rather give up a kidney?” Ginger asked. “If Bianca ever doubts your love for her, you can just trot out that little detail and all her fears will be laid to rest.”
“I had hoped you’d be willing to represent Summer if she needed it. Is that what Blair hired you for?” Maggie asked.
“No, she’s convinced Tyler killed Bruce despite his having an alibi, so she doesn’t think she’ll need me to represent Summer,” Max said and shook his head, letting them know what he thought about that. “What Mrs. Cassidy wants me to look at is her estate from Bruce Cassidy. Apparently, he kept all of the financials to himself, so she has no idea how much money she has or where it is or anything.”
“Ugh!” Claire shuddered. “That’s positively barbaric. I could never not know my finances down to the penny.”
Maggie and Ginger nodded. Maybe it was because she was a Good Buy Girl, or perhaps because she’d been on her own for so long, but either way, the thought of not being in control of her own money made Maggie queasy.
“Which is another reason I stopped by,” Max said. He turned to Ginger. “Since financial statements are not my area of expertise, I was wondering if you’d be willin
g to offer some insight?”
“Absolutely,” Ginger said without hesitation. “I’d be happy to help.”
Maggie opened her mouth to mention that Ginger had already started, but Ginger shot her a look that said “hush.” Maggie did.
“So, when are you going to ask Bianca to marry you?” Ginger asked.
“I thought I’d pop the question when I got home tonight,” he said.
“Tonight?” Claire sputtered.
“Just like that?” Maggie asked.
“With no candlelight dinner or flowers or anything?” Ginger asked.
“I kind of thought the ring was enough,” Max said. He looked put out. “You know, along with pledging my life to hers, like, forever.”
“For a man with all that fancy-shmancy education, you’re dumb as a brick in the romance department,” Maggie said.
Max gasped as if she’d slapped him. “Ouch!”
“Where’s the creativity? Where’s the thoughtfulness? Where’s the romance?” Maggie cried.
“Really?” a voice asked from the door. “I just got here. Can’t I even take off my jacket before I trot out the romance? And why is the door unlocked when we have a murderer running around?”
They all glanced over to see Sam shutting the door behind him.
“Sam, you’re just in time,” Claire said.
“Yes,” Ginger agreed. “We need a man to help us head off this disaster.”
Sam looked immediately alert. “Is there a crime happening?”
“No, but there will be if you don’t back us up,” Maggie said.
Sam looked perplexed as he sat down on the love seat beside her. He draped his arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her hair before he turned to Max.
“What did you do?” he asked him.
“What?” Max raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. “What makes you think it’s me?”
“You’re the only dude in the room; it has to be something you did,” Sam said.
