East Pender Boxed Set: Cozy Mystery Series Bundle of Books 1-14

by Leona Fox

  Andy glared at Paul and was about to rant at him about how he took pride in his work, but he saw the twinkle in Paul's eye and the mischievous grin. He realized being this tense wasn't going to do him or the case any good, and he actually laughed.

  “Do you actually want to know my process for investigating crimes?”

  “Of course! I'm here to learn about you, after all. Anything that can help my performance would be good.”

  “I always tend to go from the evidence first. I like creating a case where I can point to a series of things and prove who did it and why. That's the only thing that holds up in a court of law, so that is what I stick to. Ellen, on the other hand, tends to form theories as she goes and then when new evidence comes to light she either sees how that fits her theory or forms a new one if it doesn't fit with what she thought. But over time she's rubbed off on me a little bit so there's an element of that in my work. Mostly I try keeping to the facts of the case. And, at the moment, all we know is somebody stole some gas. So this is when Ellen really comes in useful because she's usually able to think about why somebody would have done this.”

  “You two have worked together for a while now. At least, that's what I've been able to gather from speaking with various people around town. What's it like, working with your girlfriend?”

  “It's great. I have to admit that before we started going out I was unsure how the dynamic would work because I didn't want to compromise my job but it's only made things better. She's a...she's a very impressive woman and this town is definitely better off for having her in it.”

  “She strikes me that way,” Paul said. Andy heard a strong hint of admiration in his voice, which irked the police chief.

  “We make a good team, though, and I think I'm a better cop for knowing her. Not only that, I'm a better man, I think.”

  “You are lucky, with all this and a beautiful woman to boot.”

  “Is the glamorous Hollywood star really jealous of a small town cop?”

  “Maybe for a moment, then I think about my mansion and all the beautiful women who fawn over me and I'm happy with my lot again,” he said with a cheeky smile.

  “But seriously though, I do admire the work you do here. I don't think I could do it for a career, though. It's easy enough playing one but actually to be surrounded by everything...I mean, is that why you left the city?”

  “Something like that, yes,” Andy said, growing tense as the past became the subject of conversation.

  Paul began asking more questions but Andy quickly ended the conversation. Just as the two men had been broaching something akin to friendship the atmosphere between them returned to one of a frosty cordiality. While they spent time together, Paul thought about Andy a lot and what made the man tick. Everyone spoke of him in glowing terms and, while he had witnessed a few moments like this he always had remained distant. Paul didn't feel like he was getting any real insight into the man because Andy wasn’t opening up to him. It was nothing that could be forced, of course, but Paul was a little disappointed because it meant his work would suffer.

  While Andy and Paul were spending time together, Ellen had taken a personal day because it was the anniversary of her parents' deaths. It was always a difficult time of the year, although in some ways she appreciated that the gas bandit was on the loose because it gave her something to take her mind off her sorrow. She enjoyed her life but she wished her parents were still around to see it, and to witness the way she had grown into the town. On her way to the cemetery she thought about the gas bandit and why they would want to steal so much gas from the town, but once she stepped inside she only thought of her parents.

  The cemetery was connected to the large church in the middle of the town. It stretched outwards for what seemed like an eternity. The graves and tombstones were lined up uniformly, although they all were in various states of disrepair. Some had their names and epitaphs eroded, and they had been forgotten through time. Grass grew over the graves and vines crept up the tombstones, showing that whomever lay there had been forgotten. It was a sad fate, and she hoped it would not befall her. Scampy seemed to acknowledge the somber tone of the surroundings as well as he was not his usual jubilant self. Toward the entrance was the grave of Michael van De Lay, which was a new addition to the cemetery after his body had been discovered in a cave near the river. The man responsible for much of the town's infrastructure was given an appropriate, prominent place in the cemetery. Ellen was glad she had played her part in ensuring that his legacy continued.

  Ellen reached the graves of her parents and laid down a flower on each of them. She placed a hand on both of the graves and thought back, not to the last days of their lives, when they had been ill, but to her youth, when they both had been happy and vibrant. She thought about the times her father had taken her exploring in the forests, and when her mother had read with her books from her own childhood, and talked about why she loved them. As the fond memories came rushing back Ellen closed her eyes and forgot about her present surroundings. She took deep breaths and dove back into the recesses of her mind, making those memories come to the forefront. She relived them through the eyes of her younger self, and for a few moments it was as though her parents had come back to life.

  She remembered them as a happy couple in love, and it made her think of her own relationship with Andy, and Kelly's with Matthew. She had taken longer to find true love than her parents. They had been fortunate to meet each other when they were young and have a family together. Such things probably were not in the cards for herself and Andy, but she wondered if her parents ever had had any difficulties in their relationship like Kelly and Matthew were having. In some ways she felt as though she hardly knew her parents at all, and that there was so much of their lives she missed out on, and she wished she could turn to them for advice as well. It was in times like these that she did miss them terribly.

  And yet, with their deaths came a blessing in a way, for she remained in East Pender. Would she have done so if they had recovered fully? She wouldn't have had the money to buy the cafe, certainly, and she wondered what her life would have been like had she stayed in the city. Would she still be standing somewhere, ruminating on the vagaries of life and regretting her choice not to live in East Pender, or would she finally have found love in the big city? Then, she thought about the cases she had been involved in and how her absence from East Pender would have affected those as well. She was sure Andy would have caught the criminals no matter what, but perhaps not as swiftly, and there certainly would have been other wrinkles that she could not comprehend.

  Ellen gazed past her parents to look at the other graves that were all lined up in a row. All those lives had passed through the town and all ended up in the same place eventually. She would, too, one day, and perhaps there would be someone to come and lay a flower upon her grave. Then again, perhaps there wouldn't be.

  After paying her final respects to her parents she closed her eyes once more and thought of their smiling faces before she got back to the rest of her life. She reached out and grazed the hard tombstone with her fingers, feeling where the letters had been etched into the thick slab of stone. It was hard and rough, unlike her memories that were warm and loving. The sweet fragrance of the flowers she had left on the graves filled the air, and it struck her how, even in this place of mourning, of death, there still could be beauty that flourished.

  On the way back she passed the grave of Scampy's original owner. She paused to think back to that time, of how he had been murdered and the dog had been left without an owner. Until then Ellen never really had had a rapport with animals. Scampy had been the first one who actually had responded to her with affection rather than suspicion. He was the first pet she had, aside from some fish when she was younger. Scampy had become such an important part of her life she couldn't imagine it without him and she wondered if he remembered George. As if Scampy was reading her mind, he waddled up to the grave and placed his paw against the tombstone in a silent rem
embrance of his first owner. It was enough to bring a tear to Ellen's eye and she choked it away with a cough. Much of her time in East Pender had been marked with death but that served as a timely reminder to embrace life and not waste any moments, to love with all she had and take joy in every moment, every sensation, no matter how fleeting.

  Chapter 6

  Although Ellen had her personal things to take care of the world did not stop for her and neither did the gas bandit. The flagrant theft of gas outside her cafe had been the biggest, but the bandit had struck again on various nights, taking smaller amounts. They were careful, though, and still left no clues at the crime scenes, making Ellen wonder if it was actually only one person or if there were a group of people planning these thefts, making sure nothing was overlooked.

  The nights began to be fraught with danger as people were afraid of leaving their cars outside. To try outsmarting the bandit, people took to staying awake through the night, keeping watch over their cars. This was untenable as, naturally, they needed to function the next day and their lack of sleep proved a hindrance to that. So they never could keep up the guard duty for more than a couple of nights at the most, and the bandit escaped unseen. It was not a crime that proved immediate harm to anyone, but the more gas was stolen the more people grew annoyed, and with no progress being made they were quick to complain to the police. Usually by this point Ellen had something to go on but any theory was valid as there was so little information.

  At least that meant she could afford to think about Kelly and how to best help her, for she was deeply worried about her friend. She had tried to call Kelly during the past couple of days but there had been no answer, and even when Ellen went around to Kelly's place and knocked on her door there was still a lack of response. Ellen called out to her friend but still there was no answer, and there was nothing she could do. Occasionally Kelly would do this, lock herself away in the midst of a creative blitz, a symptom of the artistic temperament, but in this instance Ellen thought the worst thing for her would be to be alone. Yet, there was nothing Ellen could do, and she unfortunately was forced to leave Kelly by herself and hope she found her way through whatever anguish was plaguing her.

  There was some deep secret that was haunting her and Ellen only wished she knew what it was. She didn't understand why Kelly felt she could not share her secret, especially when she knew how important honesty was to Ellen given her history with Andy. It must have been something big for Kelly to sabotage her relationship with Matthew, but secrets had a habit of destroying things. Ellen only could hope Kelly was able to come back from this.

  While she felt powerless in that respect, she also was feeling powerless in the case of the gas bandit as well. She and Andy tossed theories between each other but with literally no clues there was no way to confirm or deny any of them. Paul was in the middle of them, trying to throw various things into the mix but it only aggravated Andy. There were many times when Ellen had to take Andy aside and remind him they had to remain focused. It was not easy though, especially when it seemed like nothing they did was able to tease out the gas bandit. Even when they stationed police officers to watch over the cars there were not enough men to cover the whole town. The gas bandit was clever enough to avoid the places where there were patrols. With seemingly no recourse, the town was in an uproar. When the bandit struck again and there was no response, they gathered in the town square to voice their collective frustration.

  Andy and Ellen both groaned when they saw the people assembled, as nothing good ever came from a mob like that. Soon enough, the voices were raised in a loud crescendo of noise and whatever reasonable, sensible complaints people had were lost as they had to shout over one another to be heard. Andy was at the forefront, trying to get people to calm down, all to no avail.

  “He's got his hands full with this. This isn't going to be as easy as a dispute in a store” Paul commented to Ellen, who narrowed her eyes at him and did not respond to the comment.

  In her heart she was worried because she knew how quickly attitudes in the town could change. One day Andy was being lauded as a hero for solving a crime, and the next he was having to deal with the aggrieved souls that had been wronged. It was never an easy job and it was in moments like these when Ellen appreciated her role as a consultant, although it didn't make it any easier to watch people condemning Andy for not doing his duty properly.

  After a few minutes of what seemed like futile gestures, Andy was able to get a moment of silence when, once again, he told them the police were doing all they could to catch the bandit, yet it was not enough to calm them. They ranted and raved and it took all Andy had to remain calm, which was admirable since Ellen was annoyed. She wanted to go out there and ask them what they would have the police do. There was no easy answer, and while she understood the frustration she wanted everyone to see this course of action wasn't going to lead to a solution to the problem.

  “He's not doing a very good job is he? Maybe I should go out there and help him? I have some experience dealing with large groups of people,” Paul offered.

  “Andy will come through, he always does,” she said.

  “Well, not all the time,” Paul replied quickly, and Ellen glared at him, knowing he was referring to the one mistake that haunted Andy. It was the big failure that had become the defining characteristic of the character Paul was portraying.

  The one case Andy hadn't been able to solve in time, and it had cost a little boy his life. It was the first time when Ellen wondered how this man actually could portray Andy, because he didn't seem to have any of the nobility or honor that she saw in the man she loved. As much as she urged Andy to give Paul a chance she wondered if, ultimately, it had been a decision made of folly. Perhaps it would have been best if she had told Andy to ignore Paul and let the actor have his own interpretation. The lines already had been blurred between fiction and reality, and this only was serving to make it worse. But it was too late to worry about that and Ellen had other things to deal with. The crowd was getting raucous and Andy wasn't able to talk any sense into them.

  Everyone seemed to be shouting and yelling, their faces contorted into a vicious snarl, buoyed on by the rest of the crowd. Ellen wondered how it was that such a pleasant community could so suddenly turn into such an angry one, filled with all the worst qualities of humanity. With sorrow in her heart she scanned the faces, trying to commit each one to memory. Many of them she had served in the cafe and considered friends. Yet here they were, at the first sign of adversity they were ready to make the easy decision and turn to shouting rather than reasonable discourse, and it disappointed her greatly.

  Slowly, she turned her gaze from one face to the next and they all were the same...all apart from one. While the others were fixed on Andy, eyes blazing with fury, this man's face was different somehow, and in among all the others it stood out starkly. The face bore the look of shame and guilt, and yet it was so far away Ellen could not recognize whose it was but she was sure it was the gas bandit. She left Paul to move closer, but the moment she took her eyes away and looked back the gas bandit was gone. He had disappeared into the crowd, and no matter how hard she searched with her eyes she was unable to find him again.

  “The gall of the man, you mean he was standing there while everyone shouted around him? He must have been laughing inside,” Andy said, with an angry look on his face.

  He and Ellen were sitting in the cafe by themselves, trying to relax after the evening’s events. Paul had excused himself for once, rather than having to be told by Andy or Ellen to leave, and the rest of the town was once again at peace. The crowd's rage had been quelled for the moment by Andy, although it had taken a great deal of effort on his part and he now was drained and tired. Ellen reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

  “What annoys me most,” he said, “is how they all can be so demanding. Do they not realize I'm trying my best?”

  “They're just scared, and worried,” Ellen said, “it's never easy knowing th
ings are out of their control, and they don't know it's only one man. It could be a whole group, and if they're stealing gas that may just be the start. It's unsettling for them, to know that just outside their homes, where the sleep, someone is stealing from them, and they can't seem to do anything about it.”

  “I know, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. I just wish they could take a breath and see that what they're doing isn't accomplishing anything.”

  “I don't know about that. The gas bandit actually attended the rally, and if he saw them it might give him second thoughts.”

  “Only if he has a conscience. But if he's brave enough to go there and be in the heart of them he's obviously not going to be spooked easily. He probably feels confident enough because we have no leads. We're no closer to finding him now than when we began.”

  “Then we need to redouble our efforts. Obviously we've been going about this the wrong way.”

  “Do you have any thoughts?”

  “I have plenty, but that's not going to help us because they're all equally valid.”

  “Then what do you suggest we do?”

  “I think we should try figuring out why he's stealing the gas, what it's used for, and then we can try to narrow down who the culprit may be.”

  “But without any evidence we're not going to be able to prove it.”

  “Hopefully once we've figured it out, if we figure it out, we'll be able to get evidence,” Ellen said. Andy looked at her uneasily as it was the complete antithesis to his usual methodology.

  “Unless you have any better ideas...” Ellen said, noticing his reluctance. He sighed and surrendered, for in lieu of anything else, this seemed to be the best course of action.

  “What are you thinking then?”

  “Well, there obviously has to be a reason for him to be stealing all this gas. I don't think it's something as simple as stealing it for spite because there doesn't seem to be anything in common with the targets. I think we safely can say he's stealing the gas because he has some plans for it.”