“He just wants what’s best for the restaurant,” Kaitlin replied.
“Or what’s best for himself,” I said.
“I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not going to badmouth my dad,” Kaitlin replied.
“Even when he decided to swoop in and take the job that you thought you deserved?” I asked. “The job that you had been craving. That you figured would be yours. There you were, in a position to finally run this restaurant. Instead, your father appointed himself as the new manager. A man who doesn’t have a single day’s worth of experience in the restaurant business.”
“I already told you that you’re not going to get me to speak ill of my father,” Kaitlin said.
“You may not be willing to speak ill of him in front of us, but you had no problem doing it in front of him. Or have you already forgotten? We heard your argument,” I said.
Kaitlin folded her arms. “I thought you were investigating my mother’s murder. What I did or didn’t say to my father has nothing to do with what happened to my mom.”
“We’ll be the judge of that,” David said.
“Fine. Make all the judgments you want. It doesn’t change the fact that I had nothing to do with my mother’s murder. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do in the kitchen,” Kaitlin said.
“You can run away all you want, but just know that we’re keeping our eyes on you,” David replied.
“Go ahead. I have nothing to hide,” Kaitlin said.
David stared her down.
The look of resolve on Kaitlin’s face did not waver.
David and I were on the verge of slamming into another brick wall. Before we did, I made a quick scan of the dining room.
“By the way. Is Wade Becker here? Or Julie Lambert?” I asked.
“Wade is off today,” Kaitlin replied.
“And Julie?” I asked.
“She’s not working here any longer,” Kaitlin said.
My eyes widened. “Did you fire her?”
Kaitlin shook her head.
“What happened, then? Did she quit?” I asked.
“Neither, actually,” Kaitlin replied.
“What do you mean, neither?” I asked.
“Julie was supposed to open today but she didn’t show up for her shift,” Kaitlin said.
“And she didn’t call in sick?” I asked.
Kaitlin shook her head. “Not only did she not call in sick, she didn’t even pick up the phone when I called her earlier.”
My forehead wrinkled. “I wonder what happened to her.”
“I don’t care. In my book, if you don’t show and you don’t call, you don’t work here anymore,” Kaitlin said.
Chapter Thirty-One
Julie’s absence from work begged a follow-up. That was exactly what David and I did. A few minutes later, my boyfriend and I were headed to central Treasure Cove where Julie’s town house was located.
When we arrived at her place, I noticed that two cars were in the driveway. I recognized both of them.
David parked at the bottom of Julie’s driveway and turned to me. “It looks like she has company.”
I zeroed in on the green sedan that was parked in front of us. “That looks like Wade Becker’s car.”
“You think the lovebirds are having a little romantic rendezvous?”
“Let’s find out.”
David and I got out of his car and approached Julie’s front door.
David knocked a few times, which yielded no answer.
He waited a few seconds, then he knocked again.
Once more, his knocks were met with no response.
David leaned in close to the door and yelled out, “This is the police. I know you’re in there. Come on out!”
When that didn’t produce any response, David rang Julie’s doorbell and yelled, “You can’t hide in there. We’re not going anywhere until you come out and talk to us!”
David finally got a response. Although, it was more chilling than either of us expected.
We both heard yelling coming from inside the town house.
“Help!” a female voice called out.
I recognized that voice. It belonged to Julie.
David immediately went on high alert. He reached for his gun, which he kept holstered on his belt.
He glanced at me with steely determination in his eyes. “Stay here.”
David then took a deep breath and kicked the front door down.
With the force of David’s kick, Julie’s front door swung open.
David headed inside the town house with his gun drawn.
I waited impatiently on the front patio as a few seconds went by. My palms began to sweat as my breathing slowed.
My nerves only ratcheted up even more when I heard David issuing a command from inside the house.
“Put the gun down,” David said.
Someone in there had a gun? Was it Wade? What was going on?
The suspense was killing me.
I heard a male voice respond to David’s command.
“Back off. Get any closer and I’ll shoot.”
There was no doubt in my mind that the male voice belonged to Wade Becker. Even more terrifying than the tone of Wade’s voice was what he had said. By the sound of it, a standoff was going on.
Things only intensified from there.
“Wade. Don’t do something stupid. Now put your gun down,” David said.
“I told you to back off,” Wade barked.
Things sounded like they were getting out of control in a hurry. I couldn’t just stand there. After all, my boyfriend had a gun pointed at him.
I had to do something. At the same time, it wouldn’t do me any good to just dart inside. There had to be another way I could help.
It didn’t take long for an idea to flash in my head.
I walked away from the front patio and darted around to the side of the town house.
When I rounded the corner and reached the side of the house, I spotted a few windows.
I approached one of them and peered into the window.
What I saw was shocking. Immediately in front of me was a bedroom. Beyond that was an open door that led to a hallway where Wade was standing. Behind Wade in the hallway was another door, which was shut.
I only saw a side view of Wade as he stared down the hallway with his gun drawn. With Wade focusing further down the hallway on David, he didn’t spot me.
Unfortunately, the standoff showed no sign of ending anytime soon.
“Put the gun down,” David demanded.
“I’m not going to jail,” Wade replied.
“That’s the only way this ends.”
Wade snarled. “I can think of another way.”
“You think you can shoot your way out of this? I’m a trained marksman. Do you really want to test me?”
“I’m not going to jail.”
“You’re pointing a gun at a police officer. There’s no way you aren’t going to jail.”
Since Wade didn’t spot me, part of me wanted to see if I could climb through the window, sneak up to him, and spray him with the can of pepper spray that I kept in my purse.
That plan was very risky, though. What if I made too much noise climbing through the window? I would be a sitting duck.
Thankfully, I came up with a different, less death-defying plan. In addition to the can of pepper spray that I kept with me at all times, I also carried a whistle in my purse. They had both been given to me by my mother to be used in times of crisis.
I knew the whistle could come in particularly handy right then. I reached into my purse, grabbed the whistle, and put it in my mouth. After taking the deepest breath I could, I blew into the whistle so loudly that it let out a deafening noise.
As expected, when Wade heard the whistle, he immediately turned toward me.
When Wade spotted me, he pointed his gun my way.
Wade became so distracted by my presence outside that he had forgotten that he still
had a gun pointed at him.
David spoke up from the hallway. “I’m only going to say this one more time, Wade. Put your gun down or I’m going to shoot you. And let me tell you something, I don’t miss.”
Wade winced as he glanced at David and saw a look of fierce determination in his eyes. A moment later, Wade dropped his gun.
“Now put your hands above your head,” David said.
Wade complied.
With David’s free hand, he grabbed his pair of handcuffs, approached Wade, and then cuffed him.
Now that Wade was no longer a threat, I was finally able to breathe a deep sigh of relief.
I then noticed David glancing my way.
“I know. I was supposed to stay on the front patio,” I said.
“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” David replied.
“What were you going to say?” I asked.
“Thank you,” he said.
I smiled at David. “You’re welcome.”
I made my way back around to the front of the house. I then entered the front door and joined David in the hallway.
The grinding sound of wooden furniture being pushed across a floor was then heard. It was coming from the other side of the door in the hallway that had remained closed during the standoff.
A second later, the door flung open, revealing Julie Lambert on the other side.
Julie had a terrified look on her face. “Is it over?”
David looked at Julie with wide eyes. “What happened here?”
“You don’t have to tell them anything,” Wade said.
Julie snarled at Wade. “After what you did to me, I’m going to tell them everything.”
Wade groaned.
David stared Wade down. “Wade, you have the right to remain silent. I suggest that you do so.” David looked over at Julie once again. “Now what happened?”
“Wade came over this morning all panicked. I asked him what was wrong. He asked me if I loved him. I said yes. That’s when he told me what he had done.”
“You mean how he had killed Clarissa Anderson?” I asked.
Julie nodded. “Yeah. Wade told me that he felt like the walls were closing in on him. That it was only a matter of time before he was found out. He told me he was skipping town and heading to Mexico. He wanted me to go with him.”
“And you said no?” David asked.
“Of course I said no,” Julie replied. “When he told me what he had done, I was horrified. The last thing I wanted to do was run off with him to Mexico.”
“Then what happened?” I asked.
“Wade lost it. He said that if I didn’t come with him, that I couldn’t be allowed to live. According to him, I knew too much,” Julie said. “He reached for a gun in his pocket. Before he had the chance to point it at me, I splashed my cup of coffee in his face. That gave me just enough time to run back to my bedroom. I locked the door to my bedroom, just as I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. In a panic, I pushed my dresser behind the door to barricade myself in the bedroom, then I hid in the corner.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?” David asked.
“I wanted to, but my phone was in the living room. Unfortunately, I was trapped in my bedroom. I thought I was going to die,” Julie said. “About an hour passed. Then I heard my doorbell ringing. That was when I yelled out for help,” Julie said.
David shook his head in disgust at Wade. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Wade lowered his head in shame. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“Yeah? Then how did it end up like this?” I asked.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. Any of it. If Clarissa would have just done the right thing, none of this would have happened,” Wade said.
David scoffed. “Are you really going to blame this on Clarissa?”
“I went to the restaurant that night with the goal of working things out. I tried to reason with her. I gave her a chance to do the right thing,” Wade replied.
“By doing the right thing, you mean giving you the promotion that you thought you deserved?” I asked.
“I did deserve it,” Wade snapped. “I earned that promotion. The only reason I didn’t get it was because of nepotism.”
“I guess Clarissa didn’t agree,” David replied.
Wade shook his head. “No.” He took a deep breath. “I told Clarissa that I was going to take her to court. That she was going to pay for what she had done.”
“What happened, then?” David asked.
“She became defiant. Outraged. She dug her heels in more than ever. Clarissa told me that as long as I worked at the restaurant that I’d never be promoted to assistant manager,” Wade said.
“And that threw you over the edge?” I asked.
Wade shook his head. “No. What threw me over the edge was when she told me that I didn’t deserve to be promoted. That I wasn’t manager material.”
“So that’s when you killed her?” I asked.
“I couldn’t help myself. I just snapped. I had never felt angrier in my entire life. I was so livid that I picked up a nearby kitchen knife and stabbed her with it, without even thinking twice. When I finally calmed down, I saw what I had done. Her body was on the ground. She was dead,” Wade said. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to kill her. It just happened in the heat of the moment.”
“What about your girlfriend?” I asked.
“I thought Julie would come with me. I thought she loved me,” Wade replied.
Julie narrowed her eyes at Wade. “I thought I loved you, too. But you’re just a monster.”
David dragged Wade away and hauled him off to jail. At last, Clarissa’s murder had finally been solved. But just because Clarissa’s killer was off the street didn’t mean that I could rest easy.
Chapter Thirty-Two
One week later
The end of a case always brought mixed feelings.
Typically it only took me a few hours to calm down after closing a case. The longest it had taken me was a full day. This time was different.
Even with the case behind me, I found it hard to calm down. For a number of days after solving the case, I was on edge. Despite experiencing a number of peaceful days in a row, I kept wondering if the other shoe was going to drop at some point.
So when David picked me up on Monday evening for a date night, I said a little prayer ahead of time that we would have a peaceful evening.
As David drove us to Boardwalk Bill’s Seafood Buffet, small talk was on the menu.
“How was your day?” David asked.
“Pretty decent,” I said.
He smiled. “That’s good to hear.”
“Although, lately, a pretty decent day to me is being able to go through an entire twenty-four-hour period without becoming embroiled in a murder case.”
“I never thought I’d be judging my day by whether or not a murder had occurred, but I guess that’s what we’ve come to,” David replied. “The good news is that Treasure Cove has been homicide-free for a whole seven days.”
I stared off into the distance. “What a crazy benchmark to live life by. Here’s hoping we can go the entire rest of our lives without having to investigate another mysterious death.”
“I pray for that every night.”
“Keep praying. It seems to be working.”
“Trust me, I will,” he said. “I’m ready for peace to be restored in this town.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not completely up to you.”
“No. But as a police officer, I do have some say in the matter.”
“Speaking of your job, how was your day?” I asked.
“Besides the lack of a murder case?” he deadpanned.
I nodded.
“It was actually pretty interesting,” David replied.
My muscles tensed up. “Interesting, how?”
When the biggest crime in town was the occasional petty theft, David’s work stories were a lot easier for me to stomach
. Ever since murders had started occurring, my breath shortened whenever he brought up his work.
“You can relax,” David replied. “Don’t worry, it’s not crime-related.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. What is it related to?”
“Xander Watterson.”
“What about him? Is he installing a new gate at the Watterson estate?”
David shook his head. “Just the opposite, actually. He is getting rid of the place.”
That was eye-opening news. Xander had been looking to sell the place for well over a decade. He had cut the price repeatedly, desperate to attract a buyer. Over the years, he hadn’t gotten a single bite. Everyone assumed that was because no one wanted to buy a place where a murder-suicide had occurred. So for him to be unloading the place now was pretty remarkable.
My eyebrows arched. “Did he finally find a buyer?”
“Not exactly,” David replied.
I scrunched my nose. “I’m confused, then.”
“Xander has decided to donate both the estate and the grounds to the city.”
I bit the corner of my lip. “Really?”
David nodded. “Under one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That the estate be demolished and that the grounds be turned into a public park.”
I took a quiet moment to let that news sink in. “Wow. I didn’t see that coming.”
“Neither did the mayor. He looked shocked when he made the announcement.”
“That was really nice of Xander to do that. Talk about an incredible donation.”
“It sure was. Although, I get the sense that Xander did it as much for himself as he did for the benefit of the city.”
My eyebrows knitted. “Really?”
“It’s no secret that he has been trying to sell the property for years. It’s also pretty clear that no one was going to buy the place from him. For the longest time, he seemed content to just sit on the place, hoping for a sucker to come along. I imagine all that changed when he got wind of Craig Coburn and his high school buddies trespassing on his property to try to complete the haunted house challenge.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“I’ll bet Xander realized what a liability nightmare he was staring down. He probably worried about things escalating and he decided to cut his losses by just donating the estate.”
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 43
