by Lyndsey Cole
“Delicious dinner, by the way. Be sure to thank Jason for us when you see him tomorrow.” Leona set her fork on her plate and leaned back in her chair.
“Leona? What is Jason up to tonight? I recognize that self-satisfied look on your face. You and Jason are always plotting behind my back.” Annie leaned close to Leona, watching her face for any hint of hiding a secret. “It’s too much of a coincidence that you and Mia just happened to show up not long before he got an urgent call and had to leave.”
Leona sputtered before she pulled herself together. “You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t know what’s happened to your common sense tonight, Annie.”
Annie sat back. “Just as I expected. You didn’t deny anything with your smoke and mirror accusations. Now. Tell me what he’s up to.” Annie glared at Leona. “Now.”
Mia placed her hand on Annie’s arm. “Something did come up and Jason’s working on some leads to help me. We don’t know anything. You know how he’s so secretive about his work. He wants you to enjoy your evening so, well, he called us up to keep you company.”
Annie smiled. “So, nothing I need to be worried about? No secret meeting he’s having with some other woman?”
Both Mia and Leona rolled their eyes.
“You’re back on that?” Leona said, her voice full of disbelief.
Before Annie could answer, Mia knocked Annie’s leg under the table. “Look who just walked in,” she whispered.
Annie’s head swiveled to look at the entry. “Phyllis Morris? Didn’t she used to own a bookstore before she moved to Catfish Cove?”
Leona whispered, “Yes, and she’s the one who called a special book club meeting tonight to figure out who would run the official gathering tomorrow night. You know, a meeting before the party. I don’t know how Martha got wind of it because she said not everyone was invited tonight.” Leona chuckled. “Martha’s convinced that Phyllis wants to take over the book club. Martha was practically hyperventilating when she told me about it. As a matter of fact, Martha’s supposed to meet us here at seven forty five.”
The three women had their heads together watching Phyllis talk to the hostess. “Look,” Leona said. They watched as Martha scurried to catch Phyllis, almost tripping over her own feet.
“Yoo-hoo,” Martha called with her hand in the air, her voice loud enough for the whole room to hear. “Phyllis, honey, where’s the meeting? I hope I’m not late. I brought a plate of my delicious Christmas cookies.”
They hid chuckles behind their hands as a scowl momentarily crossed Phyllis’s face but disappeared as she pasted a smile on instead. “Why thank you Martha. I wasn’t expecting to see you here. It was just a few of us getting together to decide what to do now that poor Alice is no longer with us.”
Martha placed her hand on Phyllis’s arm. “Such a tragedy, isn’t it? I always say, the more the merrier, especially in a situation like this. So I invited a few of my friends to come, too.” Martha’s mouth widened in a big friendly grin.
Phyllis’s scowl returned and remained. She stomped from the dining room.
Martha winked at Annie and gave a thumbs up sign on her way to their table. She pulled out the fourth chair and plopped down with a satisfied sigh escaping from her lips. “Did you see her face when I told her I was bringing some friends? If looks could kill I’d be lying dead on the floor at the hostess’s feet right now!”
The four women snickered. Annie whispered in a barely audible voice, “What do you know about Phyllis?”
Martha harrumphed. “She’s a blowhard. Almost as bad as Alice was. One of you has to volunteer to take over the book club. It’s time for a revolt.”
“Not me,” Annie said. “I don’t want to get involved in a commitment like that right now. Why don’t you do it, Martha?”
Martha dismissed that thought with a wave of her hand. “I like the book club more for a social get together. I usually don’t even read the books, just the back cover and maybe the first couple of chapters before I skip to the ending.”
Leona shook her head when all the eyes moved to her. “Not me. I’ve got too much on my plate with the café.”
“Mia?” Martha asked.
Annie piped up. “That’s probably a terrible idea. If Mia takes over the book club it’s one more motive for everyone to suspect she killed Alice.”
Martha picked up one of the wine glasses that was still half full. “We’ll just have to see who else shows up.” She drained the glass.
“What’s the deal with Phyllis?” Annie asked again, hoping for more details than Martha already shared.
“Well,” she held her glass out. “Any more wine?” Annie drained the bottle into Martha’s glass. “Phyllis was always at odds with Alice since she thought her bookstore, which she supposedly sold for a tidy sum, was much better than Alice’s. No matter what Alice said about a book, Phyllis had to disagree and give a different opinion. She was the rotten apple in the group but more and more members were beginning to side with her.”
“Wow. Who knew a book club was so political?” Annie observed.
“Right? I went for the fun and food but the fun was showing up less and less.” Martha stood up. “I’m going to find the meeting room and make sure there isn’t any early plotting started.”
“Oh, like here?” Annie joked.
“Exactly. I’ll text you where to find us.” Martha finished the wine and set her glass down. “Where’s Jason?”
“Something came up,” Leona quickly said. “He’ll be back.”
“Oh good. I was afraid something had happened between Jason and Annie to mess up the wedding plans.”
Annie’s stomach did a flip. She knew Leona and her mother downplayed her worries, but something must be going on if Martha jumped to the conclusion that something was off with her and Jason. Her eyes followed Martha’s backside and the hairs on her arm stood up when she saw Sheila Sherwood staring right at her.
Leona jostled Annie. “What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost or something.”
Annie tore her eyes away from Sheila’s piercing stare. “Doesn’t Sheila Sherwood own the building where Alice’s Book Worm shop is located?”
Leona nodded.
“She’s here and she’s been watching us.”
“Sheila’s been trying to get Alice out of her building for the last six months or so. Maybe she finally succeeded,” Leona said with a twitch of one manicured brow.
Annie’s phone beeped with a text message from Martha. Come to the Inn’s Book Nook before all the seats are gone.
Annie looked at Sheila from the corner of her eyes when the three women walked past her. Annie felt shivers go up her spine. Did Sheila kill Alice?
Chapter 7
The Book Nook would have been a cozy relaxing spot except for the onslaught of Phyllis’s grating voice as soon as Annie entered. Three walls were covered with floor to ceiling bookshelves and all Annie could hope for was that one would crash down on Phyllis. Sooner rather than later for everyone’s sanity.
Phyllis stood with her back to the mystery shelves. Everyone else sat in a semi-circle with a few empty chairs on the end next to Martha. She patted an empty chair and motioned for them to hurry over.
As soon as Annie’s bottom hit the squeaky leather, she heard Phyllis’s words in her nails-on-a-chalkboard voice. “Would anyone like to nominate a new chairwoman for the Catfish Cove Book Club?” Phyllis smiled and looked around the room. Her mouth opened, “I’ll nominate—”
But the rest of her words were cut off when Martha stood up and said in a loud rush of words, “I nominate Annie Fisher.”
Leona’s hand shot up. “I second that.”
Mia shouted, “I third it.”
As Annie’s mouth fell open, Camilla, who was just walking through the doorway, added, “I fourth it.”
“You people aren’t even in the book club. Except for Martha. The rest of you can’t vote on this,” Phyllis protested.
Martha stood up and wa
lked next to Phyllis. “This isn’t an official book club meeting anyway. And, since Alice is dead, I propose that this is the start of something new. So whoever shows up can vote.”
The room buzzed with women’s voices. Finally, Phyllis raised her hands above her head and snapped her fingers. “Everyone quiet down before we get kicked out of here. I promised the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Delaney, that we are book lovers and we would be quiet and respectful of their wonderful Book Nook here at the Heron Inn. So, with that in mind, let’s vote on a new interim president of our book club. All in favor of,” she flicked her wrist in Annie’s direction, “Annie Fisher, please raise your hand.”
Four hands shot up—Leona, Mia, Camilla, and Martha.
“All in favor of me, Phyllis Morris, becoming the new interim president of the Catfish Cove Book Club, please raise your hand.” Phyllis flashed a brilliant toothy smile.
Three hands went up quickly, including Phyllis voting for herself, then another fourth hand slowly rose bringing the total to four. A tie.
Martha smiled. “Annie, you need to vote. You’re the only one who hasn’t made a decision. Are you going to vote for yourself or Phyllis?”
Annie looked around the room. What the heck just happened to put her in this position? Of course, she knew her friends expected her to vote for herself so Phyllis wouldn’t be the new book club president. If she ran the book club, she would have the perfect excuse to find out more about Alice and if anyone in the club had a motive to kill her. She nodded and said she would vote for herself to break the tie.
Phyllis scowled. “This is an interim position until all the members of the book club can vote.” She stomped from the room without even sampling anything from the tray of desserts.
No one else seemed to care that Phyllis was gone. The three women who voted for Phyllis congratulated Annie and said they expected she would bring a breath of fresh air to the group.
Annie excused herself and said she was going to relax in her room.
Leona handed Annie her purse. “Can you take this so I don’t forget it here?”
As soon as she walked into the suite, her memory returned to her arrival with Jason. She approached the balcony door, only to see Jason’s Cobblestone Cottage all lit up across the lake. Annie knew Roxy hadn’t turned all those lights on. Who was there and what were they up to?
Without giving herself time to second guess her decision, she searched Leona’s purse and found her car keys. Annie scribbled a note and left it on the coffee table—went for a walk along the lake. That should keep Leona and Mia from worrying when they returned to an empty suite. But instead of taking a walk along the lake, Annie took a walk straight to Leona’s car and drove toward Cobblestone Cottage.
With every mile closer to cobblestone Cottage, her heart raced faster. Fortunately, the drive wasn’t too far, or her heart would have jumped straight through her chest. She pulled into Jason’s driveway, parking behind his car and next to a car she didn’t recognize. She knew she should turn around and go back to the Heron Inn, but a force pulled her toward the house and she peeked in the window. Roxy heard her and jumped off the couch, running to the door. Annie jogged back to her car, hoping to leave unnoticed, but Jason opened the door and Roxy flew out, jumping and smiling at Annie. Great. How would she explain this?
“Annie? Is that you? Is everything all right?” Jason asked as he squinted into the darkness.
With her cover blown, Annie had no choice but to go inside and find out what was going on. Each step toward Jason ratcheted her fears higher.
Detective Christy Crank had her head buried in her computer. Without even pausing to look up at Annie, Christy said, “Jason, it’s a good thing you already kicked out all those hot party girls.”
Jason put his finger to his lips, shushing Christy.
“Now I know you’re goofing with me,” Annie said. “I did wonder why all the lights were on over here.” She stood behind Christy but Christy closed her laptop.
“No eyes on this stuff. Top secret.”
Annie rolled her eyes and turned to Jason. “What are you working on? You owe me an explanation after running out on our romantic evening and calling Leona and Mia to babysit me. You won’t believe what happened after you left.”
“I hope you didn’t stumble on a body, Annie,” Jason said with genuine concern lacing his voice.
“Worse,” she exclaimed. “I was voted the interim president of the book club. Apparently, Phyllis Morris was maneuvering, in secret, to appoint herself but somehow Martha got wind of the plan and we stormed the meeting.”
Christy leaned back, her chair tipping on the back two legs. “Phyllis Morris? Didn’t she own a bookstore before she moved here?”
Annie nodded.
“Interesting. What else do you know about her?”
“Besides the fact that she was furious that I got more votes than she did? Not much. I’m guessing she didn’t have much use for Alice. You don’t think she would kill so she could be the book club president, do you? That sounds ridiculous even to me.”
Jason steered Annie to a chair. “Not so ridiculous when you add the fact that she’s been trying to buy Alice’s business. Be careful not to upset her anymore. She could be dangerous.”
“But what about Edwin Fleming? He was right next door when Alice was killed. If he didn’t do it, wouldn’t he have seen someone go inside with all his snooping around?”
“You mean like your mom going into Alice’s house?” Christy reminded Annie.
“No. Not my mom. Edwin never actually saw her go in or out, he was on the phone with his daughter.” Annie stood up and paced around the table.
“Actually, he wasn’t on the phone. At least not with his daughter. We called her and she said he didn’t answer when she called at the usual time.”
Annie threw her arms into the air. “There you go. He had a key to Alice’s house, no alibi, and he hates her cat!”
“Alice had a cat?” Jason asked.
“Yes. A big white cat named Snowball. Who, by the way, was quite comfortable in Edwin’s house when I was there. I bet Snowball followed him home from Alice’s house. After he killed her,” Annie added.
Christy chuckled. “You do love drama, don’t you Annie?” She packed up her laptop. “I think I’m done here for tonight. Thanks Jason for helping with your resources. I’ve never been able to figure out how you private businessmen can have better connections than the police.”
Jason smiled and wrapped his arm around Annie’s waist. “Don’t know what to tell you Christy except I’m glad to help when I can. I’m going to keep working on these leads tonight and I’ll be in touch if I find anything.”
Annie’s eyes moved between Jason and Christy. “You’re helping the police?”
Jason shrugged. “A little. I prefer to think of it as helping your mom, which in the long run helps me.” He smiled his lopsided smile and Annie found herself drowning in his warm dark eyes. “I’m sorry I ran out on you tonight. It’s the last thing I wanted to do, but Mia needs all the help she can get. It doesn’t look good for her unless someone digs up some serious information to find the killer.”
“I’m outta here,” Christy said.
Annie sat at the table and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. “Okay. Let’s see what we’ve got.”
Jason laughed. “This is exactly why I left our dinner without telling you what I was up to. I had my fingers crossed that Leona and Mia would be able to distract you from sticking your nose into a dangerous situation.”
“Now I’m here, so let’s get going. Edwin Fleming— Alice’s neighbor, and Phyllis Morris—previous bookstore owner, but what would be the motive?” Annie jotted the two names on the paper.
“That’s the problem. Mia has the strongest motive and she went to Alice’s house plus her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.”
“I saw someone else at the Inn. She was staring at me and it made shivers run up and down my spine. Sheila Sherwood. She owns the buil
ding where the Book Worm is located.” Annie tapped the pen on the table.
“Hmmm. That’s interesting. What I did manage to find out is that Alice was deep in debt to someone. I haven’t untangled the money trail yet, but that certainly could be a motive if we can find out who she owed so much money to.”
Annie led Jason to the couch and nestled her head in the crook of his arm. “Okay, you’re forgiven. But you will have to make it up to me, you know.”
“That’s the part I like best. Since you’re here . . . are you staying the night?”
“Tempting but I don’t want to interrupt your hard work. Besides, Leona will worry if she discovers her car is gone.”
“About that,” Jason said. “Leona called me as soon as she saw you take her car.”
Annie pulled away from Jason’s arm. “That’s how you knew to get rid of all the girls you had over here. Christy was just a cover,” she said, trying to keep her lips from twitching into a full blown laugh.
Jason pulled her back into his arms. “Leona also told me you were suspicious and having second thoughts about marrying me.” He stared deep into Annie’s eyes. “That’s not an option so just forget about getting rid of me. Ever.”
Annie relaxed, inhaling his smell of wool mixed with a hint of wood smoke. “I’m going back to the Inn now to give Leona a piece of my mind. I thought the two of you were done conspiring behind my back.”
“It takes both of us to keep an eye on you and make sure you keep that curious nose of yours out of any dangerous situations.”
Jason held Annie at arm’s length so she could see his face and she knew the joking was over. He was absolutely serious and Annie knew she better be extra careful.
Annie reluctantly walked to Leona’s car. She would much rather be spending the evening with Jason but he was in the middle of important work. If he uncovered information that would help Mia, it would be worth the broken date.
When she pulled out of his driveway, she made a last minute decision and turned right toward town instead of going left, to the Heron Inn. She told herself a quick drive by Alice’s house would do no harm. And at the same time, she could see if Edwin was up to anything. Not that she expected to see much from the car, but it would help satisfy her curiosity before going to bed.
