Horse Drawn Homicide: A Senoia Cozy Mystery

by Susan Harper

  “Lovely.”

  “And the Halloween story of me almost killing myself by breathing in bodily gasses of a murder victim is a great way to send even the biggest weirdo running,” Autumn said and then chuckled slightly. “Eventually, I’ve got to find one that doesn’t cringe when I talk about my job.”

  “I’m sure you will. You’re too beautiful and sophisticated not to,” Felicity said and Autumn gushed slightly. Felicity sighed and propped her head on her hand and leaned into the window. “I just wish I could figure out myself a little. This thing with Brian is he’s great on paper…”

  “But you just don’t know if you feel it?” Autumn asked. “I may have spoken to Dawn…”

  “So no secrets between girlfriends in this group, huh?” Felicity asked and then rolled her eyes. “I think the fact that he doesn’t get along with Jefferson and Jack really bothers me and is keeping me from getting too committed. But if they’re going to be that way with every guy I bring around, then I shouldn’t let that deter my feelings.”

  “Agreed,” Autumn said. “Otherwise, you’re going to have to marry one of them.”

  “Very funny,” Felicity said and nudged Autumn slightly.

  Before too long, Autumn was dropping Felicity off at her home. She waved good-bye before heading inside. She felt exhausted, and she cringed to see the sun was already coming up. Finding herself unable to sleep, she decided to update her sleuthing notebook with everything she had learned that night. She also printed any pictures she had taken with her phone and taped them into the notebook, labelling them with extreme detail.

  The last picture she printed was of the note that had been found on Wanda’s body. She taped it into the notebook and scribbled underneath the photograph: Found on Wanda’s person. Extremely neat handwriting. Handwriting analysis suspects transcriber to be male.

  “I wish my handwriting was that pretty,” Felicity said under her breath and then added, “not that I would want to model anything about myself after a killer.”

  Felicity at last started to feel drowsy. She headed to bed and plopped down, sighing slightly as she realized she would have to head into work before too long. Her mind wouldn’t let her rest. She kept thinking about Wanda—about that day she marched into Overton’s Events and told Felicity how she had nominated her as the official planner for the city. It had been a major turn in Felicity’s career, and it had all been thanks to Wanda. It made her sad to think about it.

  I never interviewed her twin brothers, Felicity thought and snatched her phone, sending both brothers a quick message on their social media pages. Matthew was the one who responded. The message read:

  Yeah, I can meet. I know Michael’s free this morning too. I’ll drag him along. Senoia Café in an hour?

  Felicity agreed to the meeting and felt relieved that she had done something related to the case. After setting her alarm to wake her up in half an hour, she dozed off and managed to get herself a power nap in before having to rouse from her slumber.

  Chapter 11

  The brief power nap managed to do some good because Felicity felt quite refreshed despite the long night she’d had. It was just a short drive to downtown Senoia, and she headed straight for the coffee shop. Much to her pleasure, she managed to get a parking spot right in front of the café. She sent Jefferson a quick text, letting him know she would be a little late and asking him to handle opening the shop.

  Felicity headed inside the little coffee shop where she spotted two identical looking men in their mid-thirties sitting by one of the windows. She walked up to them first and smiled. “Matthew and Michael?” she asked.

  “That’s us,” they said in unison.

  The one sitting nearest to her stood and held out a hand. “Matthew,” he said. “You must be Felicity Overton, right? Wanda used to talk about you all the time.”

  “Good things, I hope,” Felicity said and shook his hand. “You two mind if I order coffee before we talk? I had a long night.”

  “Go ahead,” Michael said, still seated.

  Felicity headed to the counter, ordering herself a coffee with an extra shot of expresso. She laughed for a moment with the girl working the counter, telling her that she’d probably be stopping in later that day for more expresso shots to keep herself awake. Once she had her coffee, Felicity went and sat down with the twins. “I don’t want to be the one to tell you two, but have you heard about Claudia yet?” she asked.

  “No, what happened to Claudia?” Michael asked.

  “It seems that whoever killed your sister has gotten to her too. They tried to stage a suicide, but it was poorly done. She was killed up in Blue Ridge while she was staying at the cabin where DeAnn died,” Felicity said, and she saw both men cringe.

  “Are you serious?” Mathew practically snarled. “We haven’t even buried Wanda yet!”

  Felicity observed both men carefully. Matthew’s eyes glossed over, and Michael seemed to simply grow very still once he put down his coffee mug and pushed it aside. “You two were close with Claudia?” Felicity asked.

  “Not as much as Wanda,” Matthew said. “But she was DeAnn’s friend, you know? Michael and I were just seven when she died. Claudia…she’s kind of always been our connection to DeAnn. She knew more about DeAnn than anyone. They were best friends as kids. Thirty-five years, and she was still able to tell us things we hadn’t heard about her before, you know?”

  “I can’t imagine how hard this week has been on you both,” Felicity said. “Losing a second sister and a family friend.”

  “I wish the police had some sort of lead,” Matthew said. “Right now, it sounds like they don’t even have a suspect.”

  “Not yet,” Felicity said. “But they will.”

  “Um…” Michael murmured and glanced up from his hands for the first time since hearing that Claudia was dead. “Whoever killed Wanda and Claudia…you don’t think they’re going after more people, do you? I mean…we’re not in danger too, are we?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Felicity said. “It seems that whoever killed Wanda probably has some sort of grudge about what happened to DeAnn. And then that person thought it would be easy to frame Claudia for Wanda’s murder, and right now, they don’t know they’ve failed in that aspect.”

  “That’s just sick,” Michael said under his breath.

  “I know,” Felicity said. “Listen, I was hoping to talk to you two about Wanda and DeAnn. I’m trying to help the police in any way I can.”

  “I’m not sure how much help we can be,” Matthew said. “What do you want to know?”

  “Well, at first, I thought that Wanda’s killer was motivated by what happened to DeAnn, but now I’m not entirely sure after what happened with Claudia. It has me wondering if this revenge for DeAnn thing has been a hoax from the beginning to throw the police off of the killer’s trail. So, my question is, did Wanda really have any enemies at all?”

  The twin brothers exchanged glances and both seemed to shrug. “I mean, a lot of the family didn’t like the way Wanda handled things with Ricky. You know, she’s the one who reported his crimes to the police and got him stuck in prison for a few years. But, most everyone seems to agree that in retrospect it was for the best. Mom and Sandra thought Wanda should have minded her own business. And so did Frankie. Even we did at the time, and so did Tiffany and Tina. But for the past year or so, no one’s really showed any animosity toward her for it,” Matthew explained.

  “Well,” Michael interrupted, “Tina kind of did.”

  “Yeah, I guess Tiffany did too,” Matthew agreed.

  “So what’s the story with your girlfriends?” Felicity questioned. “I got the impression Wanda didn’t exactly get along with them.”

  “Yeah, not so much,” Michael said. “They’ve been the on-again/off-again women for years. We both just dumped the girls this week, though. Pretty sure it’s off permanently this time. Honestly, they were both just awful people in general.”

  “Then why date them?” Feli
city asked and both men seemed to turn red in embarrassment.

  “Well, it’s kind of stupid, to be honest. I guess as twins, we just always thought it would be fun to date twin sisters, you know? And then our dumb selves just said yes to the first two girls who agreed to it and then we just never were able to completely let it go,” Matthew admitted. “But now that Wanda’s gone, it almost seems like we’re disrespecting her if we keep dating them. They used to fight a lot. Pretty much every single time they were in the same room with her. It pretty much boiled down to Wanda thinking we could do better and not being afraid to let Tiffany and Tina know that she felt that way.”

  “Why didn’t Wanda like them?” Felicity asked.

  Michael crossed his arms. “You tell her, Matthew.”

  “Well…” Matthew muttered, clearly quite embarrassed to even admit to dating one of these women. “To be honest, they were not exactly conservative southern bells, you know? Tiffany is an elementary school teacher, but she was far from your picture of a sweet little elementary teacher. She…well, Tiffany and Ricky were talking about his drug problem. This was years ago. And she decided to give him…an economics lesson…”

  “What do you mean?” Felicity asked.

  “She’s the one who told him that if he’s going to be a user, he might as well start dealing too to help pay for his drugs,” Michael said.

  “That’s horrible!” Felicity exclaimed.

  “She’s not as bad as Tina,” Matthew said. “Tina was a dealer. She even trained Ricky. Wanda used to threaten to report her all the time, but she never followed through.”

  “You and I both know Tiffany was probably dealing on the side too, Matthew,” Michael said in an attempt to make his ex-girlfriend not look like the worst of the two. “No elementary school teacher could afford those high-end fashions of hers, or all that jewelry or that nice car. Or that nice house. She took her cat to the nail salon with her last week to get a pedicure! Who pays to give their cat a pedicure? People with money to waste! Tiffany and Tina worked together in that aspect, and you know it.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Matthew insisted. “Okay, you’re right. I’m pretty sure they both were dealing. But we’re done with those two now. Too much drama, and Wanda would have wanted it this way. She was right. We deserve better.”

  “At least Tina tried to keep Ricky from getting involved,” Michael said. “She told him to stay out of it.”

  “She also trained him when he decided he wanted to go for it, Michael,” Matthew retorted.

  “Is it at all possible that Tiffany or Tina…or both…could have held a grudge against Wanda for not approving of your relationships? Enough to want to hurt her?” Felicity asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Michael said. “I mean, we dated on and off for years, but truthfully, it was always pretty casual. It was obvious none of us were ever that into each other. And when we broke up for good this time, neither of them seemed too upset about it.”

  “Yeah,” Matthew added. “They seemed to agree that it was never going to work, and I haven’t heard from Tiffany since. If they wanted to hurt Wanda over us, you would think they would have been more fazed by the break up, right?”

  “I’d probably have to agree with that sentiment,” Felicity said. “But I’d really like to talk to them. Would you mind sharing their contact information?”

  “Sure,” Michael said, pulling out his phone to look up Tina’s number. Michael did the same for Tiffany.

  Felicity jotted down the women’s contact information. She looked at her own phone and sighed. “Well, looks like I have to get down to my shop.” She bid the twins farewell and thanked them for coming to meet her before heading up the street to Overton’s Events.

  Chapter 12

  The following day, Felicity spent the morning working at the shop and attempting to call Tiffany and Tina whenever foot traffic slowed down. It was right before lunch that she at last managed to get a hold of Tina, and the woman was quite short with her. She rather reluctantly agreed to a meeting, but Felicity would need to drive to Atlanta to meet her during her lunch break. Felicity agreed, leaving Jefferson to watch the shop for the afternoon.

  “You realize you’ve been doing this to me a lot lately, right?” he teased. “I think I need a raise.”

  “You’re right,” she said and winked at him.

  “Really?”

  “No,” she said and spun around to head toward the door. “Well, maybe. You did do an incredible job on Monte and Dawn’s engagement party. I think I should give you an increase on commission when you handle parties on your own like that.”

  “Awesome,” Jefferson said, smiling. “Thanks.”

  “We’ll talk numbers later,” she promised. “For now, it looks like I’m going to Atlanta for lunch. I just might go by the Cheesecake Cottage if you want me to bring you back a treat.”

  “Yes, please!” he said.

  “Text me what you want,” she said, heading out the door.

  Felicity turned up the radio, listening to music to clear her head on the way up to Atlanta. Maybe I’ll surprise Brian and bring him some lunch while I’m up this way, she thought, but started second guessing herself. She had never just popped in on him unannounced at work before. Are we there yet? I mean, I did go on a two-week trip with him to meet his family…

  Soon she arrived at the small dive bar where Tina had insisted on meeting. She headed inside and sat herself down at the bar, ordering herself a sweet tea and asking to see a menu. I hope she shows, Felicity thought, not liking the idea of wasting an hours worth of driving. A few minutes passed by, and a woman entered the bar wearing a low cut, red blouse with tight jeans and tall boots. She wandered over to the bar and looked at Felicity with an observant eye. “You Felicity?” she asked.

  “That’s me,” Felicity said and shook the woman’s hand.

  “Tina!” The bartender spun on her heels. “I told you no more meeting clients here!”

  “She’s not a client. Seriously, does that woman look like she uses to you?” Tina insisted. “She’s friends with my ex.”

  The bartender huffed and headed to the back of the bar. “Whatever,” the woman mumbled as she busied herself with other customers.

  “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Felicity said as Tina sat herself down at the bar beside her.

  “I don’t have a lot of time,” Tina said. “So make this quick. You’re looking into Wanda and Claudia’s murder, right?”

  “That’s correct,” Felicity said.

  “You’re not a cop, right?” Tina asked. “You were just friends with Wanda, right?”

  “Right,” Felicity said. “Listen, I know about what you do. You deal, right?”

  Tina huffed. “Sounds like Michael has a big mouth. Yeah. Crack. Atlantans love their rocks. And if I find out you’re wearing a wire—”

  “I’m not. Wanda was a friend. I just want to find out what happened,” Felicity said.

  “You and me both. I mean, I didn’t like the woman, but what happened to her was pretty messed up. She was a good person. She had even reached out to me recently to try to help me get out of, well, the game. I turned her down, but even though she didn’t like me at all, she always said I could do better for myself,” Tina said. “I thought it was probably Claudia that killed her from what all I heard about how she died, but then Claudia showed up dead too. So what can I do to help?”

  “Well, at first I thought what happened to Wanda had something to do with how her sister died thirty-five years ago, but now I’m not so sure. I believe there might have been some other motivation,” Felicity explained. “Could you tell me about what went on between you, your sister, and Ricky?”

  Tina frowned. “Oh, that? You don’t think Ricky did it, do you?”

  “No,” Felicity said. “Not right now, at least. I’m just trying to piece together what was going on in Wanda’s private life to try to find a possible suspect.”

  “Okay, well,” Tina began, taking in a
deep breath as though it was something difficult to talk about. “Tiffany recruited Ricky. He was a user pretty heavy. Not just crack. I sold him other stuff too. I told him to stay away from dealing, that he didn’t want to get involved in that stuff, but Tiffany talked him into it.”

  “Now why would Tiffany do that?” Felicity questioned.

  “Because she’s a recruiter for the boss man,” Tina said. “She don’t deal. She’s too uppity to get involved with that. It’s too hands-on for her. Nope, she’s just the middleman. I send my money to her and she pays the boss. She gets ten percent of what all her recruits make.”

  “And she’s an elementary school teacher?” Felicity questioned.

  “Yeah, I know. Pretty messed up, right?” Tina said. “She used to work at the high school and she would recruit the dropouts.”

  “Oh, wow!” Felicity exclaimed. “So who is the boss?”

  “No idea,” Tina said. “But Tiffany would know—not that she would tell you. She won’t even tell me. All I know is the boss provides the goods, and I get the goods from Tiffany to sell. Ricky would too. Although I hear the boss and Ricky got tight or were tight. Don’t know if that’s true or not. All right, Felicity, you’ve taken up enough of my time. I got a meeting in an hour. I hope you find out what happened to Wanda.”

  “Wait, could you tell me what school Tiffany works at? I’ve been trying to get in touch with her,” Felicity asked.

  “Sure,” Tina said. “The kids should be at lunch about now. She don’t got lunch duty this week, so she’ll be in her room.” Tina scribbled the information into the notebook for Felicity.

  Felicity thanked her and then ordered some lunch to go from the bartender before heading out. The elementary school was just down the street, so she headed straight there. She went to the front office and got permission to go down to Tiffany’s classroom, saying she was a friend. The front office had to call Tiffany’s classroom first, but Tiffany granted her permission to come down.