by Amber Crewes
Trudy grinned. “I’m so happy to hear that.”
Jack approached the women, and Meghan stood up to plant a kiss on his cheek. Jack smiled sheepishly, and then, he gave Meghan a sweet kiss on the lips.
“Gross!” Pamela screeched as Trudy shushed her.
“That’s how I know you aren’t ready for a French boyfriend,” Meghan laughed.
Jack’s face turned serious as he surveyed the busy hallway. “We have over a hundred people to interview,” he whispered into Meghan’s ear. “We reviewed some of the footage from the kitchen tapes, and we are likely still going to speak with Trudy and Pamela. Chief Nunan asked me to keep everyone corralled here, though, so if you could just stay a bit longer?”
Meghan nodded. “No problem. We’ll keep ourselves entertained, right, ladies?”
Trudy smiled. “We can play around with my new phone camera. Pamela, I was showing Meghan my new toy earlier, but now I can show you. I have some cute pictures of you from the Governor’s Ball. Do you want to see?”
Pamela grinned. “Yes! Cute candid pictures are my favorite; I want to post some online if they’re super cute.”
Jack kissed Meghan’s forehead and walked back to his office. The three women settled back on the floor. Trudy removed her phone from her coat and began scrolling through her photos.
“This is a picture of you, Pamela,” Trudy said as she showed Pamela the screen. “Look how cute you look in your Truly Sweet smock. Just adorable.”
Meghan gestured at the screen. “I knew you both would look gorgeous in the smocks. What other photos do you have on there, Trudy? Any photos of me?”
“Well, you weren’t in the kitchen, so probably not, but let me check,” Trudy told Meghan. “There are some videos on here. Meghan, why don’t you look? My eyes are starting to hurt some squinting at this tiny screen.”
Trudy handed the phone to Meghan, and she began to thumb through the videos and images. She stopped when she saw a familiar face, smiling as she recalled her pleasant encounter with the subject.
“This is Donnie,” Meghan exclaimed as she tilted the phone toward Pamela and Trudy. “He was Paula’s assistant. I met him in the fruit market, and he was so kind. He wants to get into politics someday. We had a great chat. I bet he would like some of these candid photos. He looks so elegant in his outfit!”
Meghan flipped through several more candid shots of Donnie. “Ooooh, there’s a video, too,” Meghan told the women. “Oh no….”
After pressing play, Meghan’s heart began to pound. On the small screen of the camera, Meghan watched as Donnie reached into his pocket and retrieved something that looked like tablets. Meghan scrolled to the next video, where she saw Donnie look right, and then left, and then drop the tablets into a bowl of ice cream.
“Oh my goodness,” Meghan whispered as she froze the image. “It was Donnie. Donnie poisoned Paula. Her own assistant poisoned her!”
Trudy grabbed the camera from Meghan and stared at the tiny video screen. “Let me see that,” Trudy ordered.
“You’re right,” Trudy concluded, her eyes widening as the second video ended. “He did it. That man in my video poisoned the ice cream, and we have video evidence. Meghan, you need to take my camera to your sweetheart right now!”
Meghan stood up from her place on the floor. She sprinted down the hallway and burst into Jack’s office. “Jack, I know who poisoned Paula. You can send all of these people home; Donnie, Paula’s assistant, killed her, and I have video evidence.”
“Is that so?”
Meghan nodded as Chief Nunan stepped into the room. “I heard what you said, Meghan,” Chief Nunan told her. “Is the video on that phone?”
Meghan bobbed her head and gave the phone to Chief Nunan. “It’s all on there, Chief Nunan. See for yourself.”
Chief Nunan turned on the camera and watched the two videos. “Yes, you are right,” Chief Nunan said as the second video ended. “We have enough evidence to arrest Donnie, Paula’s assistant. Jack? I want you to spread the word: Donnie is now our primary suspect, and I have great reason to believe that he killed his employer. I want every officer and detective out on this guy, and I want him brought to me immediately.”
13
“All of this happened while I was on my yoga retreat?” Karen Denton laughed into the phone as Meghan strolled down the beach. “To think I missed the ball, a breakup, and a murder! I moved back to Sandy Bay for some peace and quiet, but it feels like peace and quiet is never quite the case…”
Meghan chuckled, happy to hear her dear friend’s voice. Karen had been in Costa Rica for nearly two weeks, and Meghan could hardly wait to fill her in on all of the events following the Governor’s Ball.
“This is why you had to go find inner peace,” Meghan joked. “You knew you couldn’t find it here, so you had to go all the way to Costa Rica.”
Karen giggled. “You caught me. Speaking of getting caught…tell me about how they caught that Donnie ding-dong. I can’t believe he killed his own boss.”
“I know,” she agreed. “It’s terrible. Jack and Chief Nunan dragged Donnie kicking and screaming out of the Governor’s Mansion about an hour after I showed them the video. They found more poison in the Governor’s kitchen, and it looks like Donnie was planning to kill the Governor, too.”
“Good thing Trudy showed you that footage, or other innocent people would have died,” Karen said. “Seriously, I just can’t believe she caught it on film by accident. What are the odds?”
Meghan shivered as a gust of cold wind slapped her face. She zipped her long, purple coat higher up her neck and shuddered; she hated being cold, and despite loving her life in Sandy Bay, when it was chilly, Meghan ached for the mild Los Angeles weather that she had previously lived in.
“So did Jack tell you why Donnie did it?” Karen asked.
“Donnie confessed right away. He told Jack and Chief Nunan that Paula had undermined his political aspirations by reporting him to the Governor’s compliance officer for not declaring a gift he had received while on official duty, and had threatened that she was going to ruin his chances at being elected to office someday.”
Karen sighed. “I hope that buffoon knows now that he’ll never be elected; he not only killed his boss, but he ruined his own life.”
“He did,” Meghan said. “He ruined his life, but thankfully, mine is back on track; Jack and I had dinner with his friend, Michelle, and I was able to apologize for being rude, and she even apologized for not thinking of my feelings. She and I probably won’t ever be best friends, but at least we aren’t enemies.”
“That’s good,” Karen agreed. “It’s never good to have an enemy. So…Jack? What’s going on there? Are things okay?”
Despite the harsh winds biting at her skin, Meghan beamed. “We’re okay, Karen. Actually, we are more than okay; when Jack and I were making up, he told me that he loves me. I said it back to him, too. We are in love, and better than ever.”
“That’s wonderful news,” Karen cooed as Meghan thought about her handsome boyfriend. “I’m over the moon that things have worked out. I wish I could have been in Sandy Bay to help you, but it sounds like you were able to fix things yourself.”
Meghan grinned, thinking of how happy she was that she and Jack were back together, and imagining how she had stood up to the reporter outside of the police station. Meghan’s heart warmed as she remembered the shy, meek girl she had been when she arrived in Sandy Bay, and compared that girl to the strong, resilient woman she was now.
“I’ve been learning to stand up for myself, Karen,” Meghan informed her friend. “I feel like I learn something new every single day here in Sandy Bay. Even the bad days have given me valuable lessons, and I can honestly say, without hesitation, that no matter the challenges, it is truly sweet to be in Sandy Bay with all of my friends and my loved ones!”
The End
Thank You!
Thank you for reading Ice Cream and Guilty Pleasures! I really hope you en
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MUST READS IN THE SERIES
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ALSO BY AMBER CREWES
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