“Don’t get snide with me,” David said.
Doug’s outrage had distracted me up until that point. But suddenly, I noticed something on the shelf behind Doug’s desk that made my eyes light up.
“Especially when you’re lying to us,” I said.
Doug snarled at me. “How dare you accuse me of lying?”
“That’s not all I’m going to accuse you of. Tom and William were just here to tell you to keep your mouth shut, weren’t they? To not discuss what you did,” I said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Doug said.
I nodded. “Yeah, you do. That’s why you’re so irritable.”
He shook his head vehemently. “No. I’m acting this way because you’re irritating me.”
“Doug, it’s time to drop the act. I know you did it,” I said.
“Did what?” Doug asked.
“I know you killed Gregory Morton,” I said.
Doug scoffed. “That’s preposterous.”
I walked over to the shelf that was behind Doug’s desk.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Doug asked.
I grabbed a dispenser of red toothpicks from the shelf. When I opened up the dispenser, there was a distinct aroma emanating from the toothpicks.
“Cinnamon-flavored, huh?” I asked.
“Have you lost your mind? What do toothpicks have to do with anything?” Doug replied.
“In this case, these toothpicks prove that you killed Gregory,” I said.
Doug pointed at the door to his office. “I don’t have to sit here and listen to this. I want you both out of here.”
David folded his arms. “We’re not going anywhere.” He glanced at me. “Sabrina, continue.”
“I found a red, cinnamon-flavored toothpick in Gregory’s office yesterday morning a few feet away from his body—”
Doug cut me off. “So what? A lot of people carry around toothpicks with them.”
I shook my head. “Not red toothpicks. And certainly not cinnamon-flavored ones.”
Doug became very defensive. “That still doesn’t prove anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. The night maid had vacuumed Gregory’s office no more than twenty-four hours before his murder. Which means that whoever dropped the toothpick on the carpet had done so the day that Gregory was killed. We have checked, and none of the other suspects have red toothpicks, much less cinnamon-flavored ones. In addition, you have no verifiable alibi, are a member of the same secret society that Gregory was, and you were spotted having a heated discussion with Gregory on the same day that he was killed. Now stop trying to play us for fools. You killed Gregory. Admit it,” I said.
Doug shook his head. “I’m not admitting to anything.”
“Fine. Keep playing dumb. But I’m wise to what you did,” I said. “The secret society is in on this, too, aren’t they? They wanted Gregory dead. What did he do to you guys? Was he not secretive enough for you?”
Doug didn’t reply.
“We’re going to find out, so why don’t you just tell us?” I said.
Doug remained defiant. “You can’t make me say anything.”
David shook his head. “No. But I can arrest you. And let me tell you something. Juries have convicted people based on less evidence than this.”
Panic came to Doug’s face.
“Face it, Doug. It’s over,” I said.
Doug closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then replied. “If I’m going down, I’m not going alone.”
David snickered. “You act like you have a choice in the matter.”
“I do,” Doug replied.
“How do you figure?” David asked.
“I want to make a deal,” Doug said.
David scoffed. “What makes you think we’d give you a deal?”
“Because of what I know. Because of what I can tell you. I have information that will blow your mind,” Doug said.
“That’s debatable. It takes a lot to blow my mind,” David replied.
“Trust me. This will make your head spin,” Doug said.
David narrowed his eyes. “Why should I trust you?”
“Do you want the truth? I mean, the whole truth? Every dirty detail. Because I can provide that,” Doug replied.
“I’m all ears,” David said. “What have you got?”
“Let’s just suppose for a second that I didn’t act alone,” Doug replied.
“Are you saying you had an accomplice?” David asked.
“I’m just talking hypothetically here, but what if I had nineteen accomplices?” Doug replied.
David’s eyes widened. “Are you saying—?”
“Suppose that a secret society of twenty men came together and conspired to commit murder,” Doug replied.
“So you’re finally admitting that the secret society exists, then?” David asked.
“I just told you. I was speaking hypothetically. Now, what if this secret society all wanted Gregory dead? Wouldn’t that information be enough for you to give me a deal?” Doug replied.
“Enough with the hypotheticals. This society you are a part of. What’s with all the secrecy? What have you been hiding? And what’s the end game?” I asked.
A sly smile came to Doug’s face. “What’s the end game for any secret society? Money. Power. Control.”
“Let me guess. Gregory wanted all the power and all the control for himself?” I asked.
Doug narrowed his eyes. “Gregory was too greedy for his own good. Everything was working so well, too. Before long, we would have owned this town. Then Gregory decided to go rogue. He betrayed us. He had to pay for what he did.”
“So you made him pay with his life? That seems awfully extreme,” I said.
“It was what had to be done. He needed to be stopped. The society brought him in to mold people’s minds the way we saw fit. Instead, he was trying to build his own army of followers, planting subliminal messages in his patients’ minds, and planning to one day turn them against us,” Doug replied.
“So the society took action,” I said.
Doug nodded.
“But if there are twenty men in the secret society, why were you the one chosen to carry out the deadly deed?” David asked.
“The society took a vote,” Doug replied.
David squinted. “But why not hire a contract killer? A professional who knew how to cover his tracks better?”
“We were going to do that, but it was too risky. The society had already been betrayed once. We couldn’t afford to have that happen again by some outside party,” Doug replied.
“I understand you wanting to keep things in-house, but you hardly seem like the perfect choice to play the part of a killer,” David said.
“That was exactly why I was chosen. Because I do seem like such an unlikely killer. With my office job and no criminal record, I was completely unassuming, which played perfectly into our plan,” Doug said.
“Only, your plan was far from perfect. And you weren’t unassuming enough. In the end, your inexperience cost you,” I said.
Doug gritted his teeth. “Do we have a deal, or not?”
“You seem awfully eager to rat out your fellow society members. Especially considering how you just made a big deal about how Gregory had betrayed the society,” I said.
“I’m not going to spend the rest of my life behind bars while they walk free. If I go down, so do they,” Doug said.
“I guess there really is no honor among thieves,” I said.
“What honor is there in letting the rest of the society get away with murder? Killing Gregory was a group decision. So everyone in the society should have to suffer the same consequences as a group,” Doug replied.
A look of curiosity came to David’s face. “You said that the whole society voted to kill Gregory. That you all devised this plan together. Would you be willing to testify to that in court?”
Doug nodded. “If I was given a good enough deal.”
/> “I can’t promise anything until I talk to the district attorney,” David said.
“You’d better get on that, then. Because if I don’t get a plea deal, I will deny everything that I just told you,” Doug said.
“You can deny things all you want, but I still have enough to arrest you for the murder of Gregory Morton,” David said. “The rest is up to the district attorney.”
Epilogue
The District Attorney ended up cutting a deal with Doug Peterson. As part of the plea bargain, Doug agreed to testify in court against the rest of the members of the secret society. In return, the District Attorney did not seek the death penalty in Doug’s case. Instead, Doug was sentenced to a prison term of twenty years to life.
Doug’s testimony proved explosive enough to help convict all nineteen of the other members of the secret society. Each of those nineteen men were given sentences of twenty years to life for conspiracy. In addition, some of the members were hit with additional charges. Like William Bolton, who was tried and convicted of illegally importing and distributing dextramaltin.
In one fell swoop, the entire secret society was brought to its knees. It was staggering to see so many powerful men go down all at once. Every one of the members was a heavy hitter. The list of names was almost breathtaking. It also happened to feature some very familiar men including Tom Dillon, Seth Taylor, and William Bolton.
Not surprisingly, articles about the case were splashed across the front page of the newspaper for months. When my sister disappeared eleven years ago, the news coverage had been relentless. But this secret society scandal ignited a media fire storm the likes of which I had never seen before. The news coverage was practically wall-to-wall.
As happy as I was that the secret society had been brought down, I also needed a break from the endless news stories. So when my grandmother took me on a vacation to San Diego, I thought I could get some relief. But the case was all over the news there as well.
Ultimately, I had to avoid TV, the Internet, and newsstands entirely during my trip. Of course, when Grandma Betsy and I returned from our beach vacation, news of the scandal had not let up one bit.
While the case itself was an understandably huge deal, the fallout was farther-reaching than just who was going to jail. Treasure Cove was suddenly in the midst of a power shift. A changing of the guard was taking place. After all, the members of the secret society weren’t just ordinary citizens. They were all heavyweights who represented some of the wealthiest and most influential residents in town.
There was suddenly a power void in town, which naturally made me wonder who would step in to fill it? That uncertainty gave me pause. Only time would tell how things would shake out.
One thing was for sure. Change wasn’t just on the horizon. It was already here. My hometown was experiencing a seismic shift.
Unfortunately, there was no way of telling when the ground would stop shaking beneath my feet or what my life would look like then. The only thing I could say with any degree of certainty was that things would never be the same in Treasure Cove again.
The End.
Cookies with a Side of Murder
Chapter One
“It’s a beautiful sunset, isn’t it?” David Carlson asked.
I nodded. “It sure is.”
As the sun went to bed for the evening, dazzling streaks of red and pink flooded the sky. It was such a stunning sight that it nearly took my breath away.
That was why it was surprising when David took his focus off of the sky and decided to glance at me. “It’s not as beautiful as you are, though.”
I couldn’t help but blush. I looked over and David’s soulful brown eyes. My boyfriend was five-eleven and muscular, with short black hair and a handsome, clean-shaven face. But what always stuck out to me the most about the twenty-nine-year-old were his eyes. He had a way of looking at me sometimes like he could peer right into my soul.
I gave him a big smile. “David, that’s so sweet. But I can’t compare to a sunset.”
“To me you can.”
“You sure have a way with compliments,” I replied.
“What can I say? They just come naturally when I’m around you.”
“Well, the way I see it, we’re both lucky to have each other.”
He nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
I turned my attention back to the sunset, but David continued to look deep into my eyes. That was when he saw something that disturbed him.
“Sabrina, what’s the matter?” he asked.
There was a flip side to David knowing me so well. When he gazed at me long enough, he could always tell when something was troubling me, no matter how much I tried to hide it from him.
With such keen skills of perception, it was no surprise that David was a detective. I knew that my odds of being able to avoid talking about my feelings were very low, but I was determined to give it a try.
I shrugged. “What makes you think anything is the matter?”
He put his hands on his hips. “Sabrina, this is me you’re talking to. You don’t think I can tell when something is bothering you?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I said.
“Too late,” David replied. “Why don’t you just tell me? I mean, if you can’t talk to me, then who can you talk to?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.”
“Then what is it?”
“The timing isn’t right. We’re on a date. We’re having a good time. I don’t want to sour the mood,” I said.
“I understand that. But what’s the point of holding it in and suffering silently all night? Wouldn’t it be easier to just deal with whatever is bothering you right now? Then we can just go on with the rest of our date,” he replied.
I bit the corner of my lip. “Maybe you’re right.”
“So what’s on your mind?”
“It’s more about who is on my mind.”
“Have you been thinking about your sister again?” he asked.
“Actually, I have been thinking about Jake Williamson,” I replied.
David grimaced. “Is Jake still trying to pressure your family to sell Daley Buzz to him?”
I nodded. “Well, yeah, but my grandma has no intention of ever selling the coffee shop, much less to Jake.”
David’s nose crinkled. “Then what’s the matter?”
“At the rate that Jake has been buying places up, I’m starting to wonder if Daley Buzz will eventually be the only business in Treasure Cove that he won’t own.”
With twenty prominent business leaders now behind bars due to their illegal activity in a secret society, a power vacuum had briefly emerged in town. That vacuum certainly didn’t last long. Jake Williamson didn’t hesitate to swoop in and fill that power void with his very deep pockets.
Over the last nine months, Jake had been buying businesses up left and right. Treasure Cove was turning into Jake’s town, and he was molding it the way he saw fit.
As I pondered the shifting landscape that my hometown was experiencing, I couldn’t help but be struck by a distinct sense of irony. After all, Jake had been excluded from the secret society because of his feud with his former business partner, Tom Dillon.
But when Tom and the other nineteen members of the secret society were arrested, Jake suddenly had the commercial real estate market all to himself. In effect, being excluded from the society was the best thing that could have ever happened to Jake.
“No wonder you wanted to keep that thought bottled up. That’s a pretty depressing thing to contemplate,” David said.
“This is all Jake’s fault. I was in a great mood until I ran into him this afternoon and he told me that he had just bought Jasper’s Furniture,” I said.
David’s eyes widened. “Wait. Wyatt Jasper sold to him?”
I nodded.
“That’s crazy,” David said.
David wasn’t kidding. Jasper’s Furniture was an institution in Treasure Cove. The b
usiness had been in the Jasper family for over seventy years.
“It won’t be long until Jake turns that space into some charmless chain furniture store,” I replied.
David shook his head in disbelief. “That man has been on a serious buying frenzy lately.”
“That’s because he has no competition left,” I said. “Almost all of the other business leaders in town are all in jail.”
David took a deep breath. “Just when you think the fallout from the secret society toppling would finally be over.”
“It’s amazing. That scandal caused a seismic shift in this town. I wonder if we’ll ever stop feeling the aftershocks,” I said.
“But hey, look on the bright side,” David replied. “Treasure Cove has been murder free for nine months.”
“I know you’re saying that to try to make me feel better, but it’s surreal to think that there was ever a murder in this small town of ours in the first place.”
“I’m just as shocked as you are about that.”
“Especially when you think about how things used to be around here.” I got a faraway look in my eyes. “Sometimes my grandmother will get nostalgic and tell me how peaceful Treasure Cove was when she was growing up. How for long stretches of time, this was an idyllic little seaside town where people didn’t even lock their doors.”
“I guess that’s why they call them the good old days,” David replied.
“I want to believe that trouble is behind us, but I can’t shake the feeling that something even more disturbing is about to happen,” I said.
“If you’re worried that the worst is still yet to come, have you ever given any thought to moving?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Why not?” he replied.
“For better or for worse, this is my home. My family is here. My friends are here. My life is here. I don’t want to move. I just want the Treasure Cove that I know and love back,” I said.
“Unfortunately, Jake has a much different vision of how this town should look than you do.”
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 55
