A Juicy Murder

by Eryn Scott

  Before she knew it, she pulled up in front of Suze’s house and parked. She could’ve honked her horn, but she’d always considered that a little rude. Plus Hazel might not have left for the town meeting yet, and she didn’t want the woman to spread rumors about Hadley being too lazy to come greet her friend.

  Hadley walked up to Suze’s little cottage. She’d done quite a few updates to the interior in the last few years: refinishing the old wood floors, changing out the old curtains, and stripping all the wallpaper from the house, replacing the floral patterns with muted gray tones that made her many paintings pop. From the outside, however, it still looked like the same little blue cottage from when they were growing up, when Suze’s grandma owned it.

  Suze leaned into the small window next to the front door and waved before Hadley could even raise a hand to knock. She waved back, and the front door opened.

  “Just a second. I lost one of my shoes.”

  Hadley chuckled. Her friend was a brilliant artist, but she had the tendency to be a little scattered. A lost shoe was an almost daily occurrence. It was a good thing she did most of her work on her own schedule—whether it was her graphic design projects or the beautiful pieces of art she created—or she would’ve been fired from her job a long time ago. She was notoriously fifteen minutes late, at least.

  Heading for the couch, Hadley was about to sit down when Suze stumbled into the room, slipping the missing sandal on to her foot.

  “Okay, ready.” Suze smiled, straightening as she swiped a loose curl out of her face. Her expression momentarily fell. “Wait, were you serious about the popcorn?” She hooked a thumb back at the kitchen. “I can throw some in the popper real quick before we leave.”

  “I think we’re fine.” Hadley chuckled, threading her arm through Suze’s and leading her out the door.

  “So this meeting has to be about the case, right?” Suze asked, once they buckled in and headed in the direction of the high school.

  “Wait ... you don’t know?” Hadley sent her a sideways glance. “I figured Paul would’ve told you about it.”

  “Yeah, if we’d seen each other in the last twenty-four hours. He’s been busy going through the entire town with that photograph.” Suze sighed. “Not that I’m complaining. A woman is dead, and he’s trying to do his job.”

  “I get it. I had to remind myself that my problems are nothing compared to poor Laney Powell.”

  “What problems?” Suze asked, her tone dropping in concern. “Oh, is this about your walk with Luke yesterday? Did something happen other than the whole cat debacle?”

  Hadley pressed her lips together as she took the turn into the high school parking lot. “I mean, no. Nothing happened. I guess that’s part of the problem. We keep having these almost moments, which make me doubt everything. I feel like I’m eleven all over again, staring over the edge of Dari’s Rock, and I can’t seem to get up the courage to jump.”

  Dari’s Rock was a large boulder that sat on a bend of the Cascade River overlooking a deep, calm blue pool. It was a rite of passage to make the thirty-foot leap into the water below. As locals went, if you hadn’t done it by the summer before middle school, you weren’t invited on any of the other adventures.

  “But you eventually did … jump, when you were eleven.” Suze placed a hand on Hadley’s arm as she put the car into park.

  She nodded. “This time I have no idea what’s below me, though. I keep thinking Luke is there, but the fact that I can’t be sure keeps stopping me.”

  “Understandable. You’ve got to decide if the reward is worth the risk.”

  At this, Hadley shot a sly look at her friend. “Like you did with Paul.”

  Suze grinned.

  “And it was worth it?”

  Her friend’s face lit up. “More than I imagined.”

  Thea Clark pulled up next to them, waving from her new car. She’d told Hadley that she loved still being able to see her old car, and that she was so glad it had gone to a good home. Hadley hadn’t realized that would mean seeing the woman parking next to her practically everywhere she went.

  “We’d better get in there,” Hadley said.

  They joined Thea and walked into the gym, ready or not for whatever would come from this town meeting.

  6

  The entire town had to be there.

  Scents of sports equipment, lacquered wood, and sweat permeated the air as Hadley and Suze walked into the gym. It didn’t hold as much nostalgia as one would think, as it was a newly built high school. The one Hadley, Paul, Suze, and Luke had gone to was now housing their local middle schoolers.

  The new Stoneybrook High bleachers sat close to fifteen hundred people. Their rival to the north, Cascade Ridge, was a much larger city, and they wanted to make sure there was enough space for fans of both schools to cheer on their basketball and volleyball teams.

  With Simone moving to town, the total population of Stoneybrook was officially 1,176, which meant the gym was almost packed.

  Hadley stifled a laugh at the sight of adults perched uncomfortably on the wooden bleachers. Louise Stanton had brought her own cushion to sit on and was in the middle of a new knitting project.

  “Hi, girls,” a low voice greeted them.

  Suze and Hadley both turned to see who it was.

  “Coach,” Hadley said with a smile. She walked forward to pull the retired football coach into a tight hug. Suze did the same.

  While neither of the girls had played football, Paul, Luke, and Tyler had been on the team. Coach Wilson had also taught their physical education classes. Even though he was long retired, Hadley still counted him as one of her favorite teachers because of his calm temper and penchant for giving great advice.

  “Seeing you in a gym again, even if it is new, seems like nothing’s changed,” Suze said, looking around.

  “Likewise.” Coach nodded to the two of them standing there. “Heard this case is a doozy.” He puffed out his cheeks for effect.

  “Yeah.” Hadley sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.

  Coach waved. “That brother of yours never met something too big for him to tackle on the field, and I’m sure he’s the same off the field. He’ll figure this out. Well, I’d better go find my seat. It’s wonderful to see the two of you.”

  “You too.” Hadley grinned at the old man. He’d always led his team with quiet support, respect, and trust. She was glad to see he hadn’t changed in his retirement.

  Turning away from Coach, she waved to her parents and Gran then headed in their direction. She and Suze settled onto the hard wooden seats. After about thirty seconds, Hadley wished she’d thought to bring her own pillow like Louise.

  “Paul’s kind of a genius to not let anyone in on the topic of the meeting,” Hadley whispered to Suze. “I bet you most of these people came just to find out what this is all about, rather than out of a sense of obligation.”

  “Yeah. It’ll be eerily quiet downtown tomorrow, though. If we’re all here, hearing the information at the same time, they’ll have nothing to pass along.”

  Hadley snorted. “Are you kidding? They’ll just rehash everything and make a million speculations. This will last them for days.”

  The women laughed but quieted down as Paul approached a projector someone had rolled into the center of the gym. He took out a microphone, tapping on the top until the sound echoed through the space. Conversations halted, and Paul cleared his throat into the microphone.

  “Good evening. Thank you for coming. We’ve called you all here tonight because we need your help.”

  Whispers flitted through the bleachers, but when Paul narrowed his eyes just the slightest bit, they ceased.

  “As I’m sure all of you are aware, a woman was killed in Stoneybrook two days ago.” He nodded to Kevin, who jogged over and turned on the projector.

  A drivers license picture of Laney Powell next to the portrait Suze had created flashed up onto the stark white wall of the gym, next to the scoreboard.
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br />   “We’re calling on our town to give us any information you have on this woman, Laney Powell.” Paul’s gaze pierced through the crowd as he scanned the faces of the Stoneybrookians. It was as if he were trying to read each person’s thoughts.

  “Nothing is too small, so please don’t hesitate to tell us whatever you can. If you simply recognize her, even that’s helpful,” he continued.

  “That means they have nothing,” someone whispered behind Hadley.

  She and Suze turned to glare at Jeff Henley, her ex’s cousin. Jeff had never been her favorite, even when she’d been on good terms with the family. He sneered back at them, so they returned their attention to Paul.

  “This,” Paul said, gesturing to Kevin to change the projection, “is her last known address.” He gave it a moment to sink in. “Yeah, that means she lived here, in Stoneybrook, folks. For an entire year.”

  Ever since he’d put up the address, the murmurs running through the crowd grew louder. Finally, someone shouted out, “Hey, that’s the apartment next to mine!”

  With his booming voice, Hal called out, “River’s Edge is Owen’s apartment complex. Did you ask him?”

  The whole town turned to find the landlord in the crowd. He stood down near the front row, raising a hand.

  “They did. I told them the same thing I’ll tell you. I had no idea who she was. The girl paid her rent on time and didn’t make a peep.” He shrugged.

  “He’s right. She barely made a sound,” the person who must’ve been her neighbor called out. “I didn’t know I had a neighbor for the first few months, until I heard a door shut and asked Owen if he’d rented the space.”

  The group whispered again. From the tone, it sounded like most people believed the local property owner. Owen had managed the River’s Edge apartments for as long as Hadley could remember. He’d always been odd, but that didn’t make someone a killer.

  “Well, what about the new juice bar owner?” someone else called out. “Wasn’t the girl found at her shop?”

  Hadley located Simone on the opposite side of the gym. Her tanned shoulders were hard set. Unlike Owen, she hadn’t known these people for most of her life, and obviously didn’t feel comfortable enough addressing the whole group.

  Jolee Fenton stood up and spoke for her. “She was at the farm buying more produce from me because you yokels keep cleaning her out of juice. Not that I’m complaining.” Jolee held up her hands and smiled.

  Laughter peeled through the crowd.

  “She wouldn’t have had time to get back,” Jolee finished. “You all know how long it takes to get from Fenton Farms back to downtown.”

  She sat down next to Luke, who caught Hadley’s eye and winked at her from across the gym.

  Nods followed Jolee’s statement. Simone’s posture lost some of its rigidity. Hadley felt for the woman; being talked about as if she wasn’t there had to be uncomfortable.

  “I don’t know. She owns that fancy sports car,” Hazel Smith called out. “She could’ve broken the twelve-minute record if she tried.”

  “The record you set, Hazel,” countered Louise Stanton.

  A few low “oohs” drifted through the gym.

  Hazel lifted her chin. “I’m sorry you’re jealous of my car, Louise. I’m sure that little shoe box of yours couldn’t get over thirty-five if you tried.”

  As another round of gasps and jeers filled the space, Hadley almost expected Paul to stop them, but he was observing the group with the same intensity as before.

  This is on purpose, she realized. He wants them to fight it out.

  “Everyone knows Cassie Lee beat Hazel’s record last winter, anyway,” Buck Jones, a local high school senior yelled. “Eleven minutes.”

  The younger group of Stoneybrook citizens sat in the back corner. The lot of them cheered as Cassie stood and took a bow. Hadley didn’t doubt this news, having ridden in the teenager’s flashy convertible.

  “Last I heard, she only got that time because she slid on a patch of ice for the last minute,” Hazel retorted with a playful smirk.

  Jokes aside, Hadley had to admit the discussion brought up a good point. She had seen Simone’s sleek sports car speeding through the valley over the past month.

  Technically, if she’d sped, Simone could’ve gotten back to the shop with a few minutes to spare before Luke and Hadley shown up. She would’ve had to work fast, and Simone hadn’t been sweating or breathing hard. But the woman was extremely fit. Between her juice stand and the triathlons she apparently competed in, she might’ve done it all without breaking a sweat.

  Watching her brother, Hadley realized he knew this too. He wasn’t taking Simone off any list just yet. In fact, if Hadley knew her twin, she bet Simone was his prime suspect, and half the reason he’d orchestrated this town meeting was for this very situation.

  Simone’s face was red, but she remained quiet. Hadley chipped at her blue nail polish as she thought. It was a bad habit she’d been trying to stop, but it was always the worst when she was thinking hard, solving a puzzle.

  Finally, the crowd quieted down. Paul cleared his throat again, bringing the microphone back up to his mouth.

  “I find it incredibly difficult to believe that not one person in this town recognizes this woman,” he said, frustration edging his tone.

  “She could’ve been angoraphobic,” Jeff yelled out from behind Hadley.

  Laughter broke out again.

  “What?” he said. “It’s the thing where they’re afraid of people.”

  “Only people wearing rabbit fur?” Thea Clark asked with a chuckle.

  “That’s agoraphobic, Jeff,” Barry said. The local beekeeper’s voice was calm and smooth like honey as usual.

  “She did get a lot of packages,” the neighbor chimed in. “They could’ve been food and everything else she might need.”

  Paul exhaled. “Okay. Thank you for coming. You know where to find me or Kevin if you think of something.”

  The large room erupted into noise, and people stood, commented on how sore their backsides were after sitting on these bleachers for any length of time, and made their way down to the gym floor.

  Hadley stayed put, waiting for the majority of the people to dissipate and motioned to her family to do the same. Gran was spry and spunky, but the woman had just gotten a new hip last year, and she didn’t want her to chance hurting it.

  “Maybe we should’ve brought popcorn,” Suze said, leaning in close. “That was entertaining.”

  “Right? Paul needs to take over for Hal from now on. He sure knows how to rile them up. I just hope he learned whatever he needed to from that.”

  “Ah, I figured something was up when he didn’t stop them. People yelling across rooms at each other is literally one of his least favorite things.” Suze chuckled.

  Hadley agreed. Her brother loved polite discourse almost as much as he loved order.

  Finally, the bleachers emptied enough that it was safe to leave. Hadley helped Gran down, hugging her and her parents before they left. They went up to Paul on their way out the door, patting him on the back. Suze and Hadley followed.

  Paul’s serious expression broke into a soft smile as he noticed Suzanne walking toward him. Hadley’s heart ached at the sweetness of it. He pulled Suze into a kiss.

  “Okay, you two. We just witnessed a half hour of anecdotal proof that the people in this town are way too interested in other people’s business. Do you really want to give them more to discuss?”

  They pulled apart, smiling.

  “Did you get anything out of all that?” she asked her brother, making sure there wasn’t anyone within earshot.

  “Not as much as I hoped, but yeah.” He dipped his chin thoughtfully. “Which is helpful since when we went to her apartment this afternoon, someone had been there before us. They’d smashed her computer.”

  “So they’re hiding something.”

  Paul touched the tip of his nose. But by the way he glanced over his shoulder at the s
ame time, she knew he wouldn’t say anything more than that in this location.

  “I can take this one home, Had. If you wanna take off.” Paul put an arm around Suzanne’s shoulders.

  Suze winked at her and Hadley waved. “Sure. I’ve got a hot date with my television and some tea.”

  “Wild and crazy Sunday night,” Suze said through a chuckle. “See you tomorrow? Coffee?”

  “Sounds great.”

  She headed toward the gym entrance, but as she walked, she couldn’t help but stare at the picture of Laney Powell that Paul had put back up on the projector. A chill ran through her body. The woman had lived in Stoneybrook for an entire year, and not a single person recognized her.

  Either someone was lying, or Stoneybrook was hiding a juicy secret.

  7

  The sun was just beginning to dip closer to the mountains as Hadley stepped out into the high school parking lot. The place had cleared considerably, but pockets of people remained.

  And while some chatted loudly, others huddled close together, talking in whispers.

  “Had, over here.”

  She perked up at the sound of her nickname and scanned the lot. Luke stood over to her left, talking with Danielle Murphey. Hadley joined them.

  “Dr. Murphey was telling me that Sweet Pea is doing much better.” Luke shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

  Hadley looked toward the veterinarian. “That’s great news.”

  The fact that the cat had been Laney’s had helped extinguish the fire of indignation Hadley had been carrying around in her chest at the thought someone would’ve left Sweet Pea in that hot car for so long. Laney hadn’t planned on what happened to her. She couldn’t have known Sweet Pea would be stuck in the car.

  “Her name really fits, too,” Dr. Murphey said. “She’s a complete sweetheart.”

  The news made a warmth surge through Hadley, which was a welcome change from the chill she’d experienced after seeing Laney’s picture in the gym. But the uncertainty crossing the vet’s features quickly quelled the good feeling.