Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Meredith Potts

  I thought my conversation with Ryan couldn’t get any more awkward. I was dead wrong. The discussion reached new heights of discomfort all of a sudden.

  I remained silent as I tried to think of a way to get things back on topic without revealing to Jocelyn that I had suspicions about her husband.

  My silence did not go unnoticed.

  “Sabrina, are you okay?” Ryan asked.

  I leaned in and whispered to him. “Actually, is there any way that we can talk in private?”

  His nose crinkled. “Why?”

  “Trust me. It’s for the best.”

  Ryan continued to look confused, but he didn’t put up an argument. “If you insist.” He turned around and addressed his wife. “Jocelyn, we’re just going to step outside for a minute.”

  Jocelyn’s forehead wrinkled. “Okay.”

  I waved at Jocelyn. “It was good to see you, though.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  When Ryan and I stepped outside and he closed the front door behind him, I was able to focus on the core of the issue once again.

  Ryan looked more perplexed than ever as he stood with me on his front porch. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you want to talk in front of my wife?”

  “I actually did that for your benefit,” I said.

  Ryan was befuddled. “I don’t understand.”

  “It breaks my heart to have to say this, but I know you haven’t been a hundred percent truthful with me.”

  “About what?”

  “You told me that you were out camping the day that my sister disappeared.”

  “I was—”

  “Ryan, don’t make this any harder than it already is,” I said.

  “Sabrina, I was out camping. It was only when I got back into town that I heard what happened to her.”

  I let out a sigh. “I know that’s not true.”

  “I hate to argue with you right now, considering all that you are going through, but that’s what happened.”

  I grimaced. “I wish I could believe that, but I know you’re lying to me. The question is, why?”

  He shook his head. “No. The question is, why do you think I’m not being truthful with you?”

  “A witness has revealed to David and me that they saw you in town the night before Jessica’s disappearance,” I said.

  Ryan replied in a hurry. “Who is this ‘supposed’ witness?”

  “That part doesn’t matter. The only thing that’s important is the truth,” I said.

  A sense of panic came to his voice. “You don’t really believe this witness, do you?”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Then don’t.”

  “It’s not that easy—”

  “Sure it is,” Ryan said.

  I took a deep breath before continuing. “There’s more. According to my information, you weren’t just in town. You ordered a pizza that evening.”

  Ryan shook his head. “No. That’s a mistake. Someone must have ordered the pizza in my name.”

  “It’s no mistake,” I replied. “I went to Luigi’s Pizzeria. I have seen their order records. They have a receipt of you paying for the pizza with your credit card.”

  Ryan opened his mouth to reply, but I cut him off.

  “Are you saying that someone stole your credit card, ordered the pizza, and then went into the pizzeria and picked it up under your name?” I asked.

  His face went pale. “I can’t believe this.”

  “That’s what I said when I heard the news. But when I saw the payment receipt, the truth was hard to ignore.”

  Ryan lowered his head.

  When he didn’t say a word, I spoke up.

  “What I don’t understand, or maybe I just don’t want to understand, is why you’ve been lying to me all this time. Why did you pretend that you were out camping if you were really in Treasure Cove all along?” I asked.

  Ryan kept his head down.

  I wasn’t going to take silence as an answer. “Ryan, answer me. You owe me the truth.”

  He looked scared as I stared into his eyes.

  “If you’re thinking that I might have had something to do with Jessica’s death, you can stop right now, because I didn’t.”

  “I didn’t say you did. I just said that you’ve been lying and that I want to know the truth. So tell me.”

  Ryan took a deep breath. “It’s going to sound ridiculous.”

  “That’s better than the alternative,” I said.

  “Remember that I was eighteen years old at the time.”

  “Will you stop keeping me in suspense? Just tell me what happened.”

  “If you recall, I was working at Zack’s Family Fun Center back then.”

  I nodded. “Yes. And?”

  “I had a real sledgehammer of a boss. That whole summer, he routinely called me into work, even on my scheduled days off. By the time August rolled around, I got sick of it. So I told my boss that I was going camping for two days. That way he couldn’t call me into work.”

  “That’s it? You lied about going camping so you wouldn’t get called into work?”

  “When I made up that lie for my boss, I didn’t realize that Jessica was about to go missing.”

  “But you’ve been holding onto that lie for eleven years. Couldn’t you have told me the truth at some point?” I asked.

  “At first, I stuck to my story because I worried about my boss finding out and firing me for lying to him,” Ryan said.

  “What about now? I just asked you earlier today about where you were when Jessica disappeared, and you stuck with the same story. Why didn’t you come clean then?” I asked.

  Ryan took a deep breath and kept me in suspense.

  I stared into his eyes. “Ryan, I know that isn’t the whole story. You’re hiding something from me, and I’m not leaving here until I find out what it is.” A shiver went down my spine before I asked the next question. “Did you talk to my sister the morning she disappeared?”

  He opened his mouth to answer.

  I cut him off. “And don’t lie to me.”

  “I didn’t talk to her that morning,” he said.

  “How about the night before?”

  Ryan hesitated.

  He didn’t have to say the words. I could tell from his body language that the answer was “yes.”

  Instead of responding verbally, Ryan just nodded.

  “You know, you could have told me that,” I said. I became pensive. “Unless something bad happened between you two.”

  Ryan let out a nervous laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  His body language was doing him no favors. I could tell he was hiding something. But what?

  “Ryan, did you and Jessica have a fight the night before she disappeared?” I said.

  “It wasn’t a fight,” he replied. “It was just a little bit of an argument.”

  My heart sank. It pained me to do so, but I pressed on. “About what?”

  “About our relationship.”

  “That’s really vague. Why don’t you clarify that?”

  “She thought I wasn’t making enough time for her. That I was working too much. She wanted me to cut back my hours at the Family Fun Center and spend more time with her. I explained to her that my boss wouldn’t let me,” Ryan said.

  “What did she say?” I asked.

  “To stand up to my boss. And that if he didn’t give in that she could get me a job working at the ice cream stand with her.”

  “And what was your response to that?”

  “I told her that the ice cream stand didn’t pay as well.” He shook his head. “It’s kind of crazy to think that we argued about something so small. But at the time, it seemed so important.”

  “You know what they say about hindsight,” I replied.

  Ryan nodded. “At the same time, most people don’t find themselves in the unfortunate position that I’m in. The majority of couples get the chance to apologize after a fight. For example, when one of my frien
ds has a little spat with his girlfriend, he can make up with her the next day. I never got a chance to do that with Jessica.”

  “Was it really just a little spat?” I asked.

  “Absolutely. It was the kind of argument that an apology and a bouquet of flowers would have smoothed over. As a matter of fact, I had planned on picking Jessica up a dozen roses to bring over to her the next day. Only, I never got a chance to. She disappeared before I was able to apologize to her,” Ryan said.

  It was a heartbreaking story. If that had in fact happened. Considering that I had caught Ryan in a lie already, I was having a hard time buying his story outright.

  “Is that the truth?” I asked.

  He nodded. “It’s the gut-wrenching truth. Ever since Jessica’s disappearance, I have prayed every single night that she would be found alive. That way, not only would she be back, but I could also finally apologize to her for the argument that we had. Instead, regret has been eating me up all these years. I loved your sister so much. The fact that the last time I spoke with her things ended on poor terms is just so difficult to bear.”

  Ryan’s emotional account of his last conversation with my sister made me reflect on the last time that I had spoken with Jessica. The morning of her disappearance, Jessica and I had just made some casual small talk before she went out the door to take a jog. Nothing mind blowing was said. No nuggets of wisdom were shared. It was a completely unremarkable discussion.

  Of course, at the time, I didn’t know that it would be the last conversation I would ever have with her. And while I wished that our discussion had been more meaningful, I was glad that we didn’t argue about anything or get into a spat of any kind. Jessica and I were both pleasant with each other. Considering the alternative, I had a lot to be thankful for.

  But enough about me. I still had more questions for Ryan.

  “If that’s the truth, then why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked.

  “When Jessica disappeared, all that mattered was finding her. That was my focus. Not what had happened the night before she went missing,” Ryan said.

  I shook my head. “I don’t buy it. You could have told me all this a long time ago. You should have told me. If not right after her disappearance, then at some point in the last eleven years.”

  “At first, there was a good reason that I didn’t—”

  I cut him off. “Yeah. Because you lied about where you were at the time of her disappearance.”

  Ryan nodded. “And because I’d had an argument with her the night before. Look. I’ve watched a lot of TV. I know that when someone goes missing, investigators immediately suspect the significant other.”

  “Can you blame them?” I asked.

  “No,” Ryan replied. “That said, even though I had nothing to do with Jessica’s disappearance, I knew that telling the truth wouldn’t make me look good.”

  “Yeah? Well, lying makes you look worse.”

  He exhaled. “You have a point.”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “I mean, if you are really telling the truth and don’t have anything to hide—”

  “I don’t have anything to hide,” Ryan said. “The only thing that I have is regrets.”

  “If that’s the case, then no matter how bad it would have looked for you, you should have just told the truth.”

  He exhaled. “You’re right.”

  I stared deep into his eyes. “Ryan, I’m going to ask you a question now, and I need you to be completely honest with me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Did you have anything to do with Jessica’s disappearance?”

  Ryan replied without hesitation, “No.”

  “Promise me,” I said.

  “Sabrina, come on. You don’t seriously think I had anything to do with your sister’s death, do you?”

  “I don’t want to believe that you did. I really don’t. But after the way you lied to me, you can’t blame me for asking,” I said.

  “I understand. And I promise you. I had nothing to do with Jessica’s death.”

  I studied Ryan’s face and didn’t see any indication that he was lying.

  “Okay,” I replied. “Now I have to ask you one more question.”

  “What is it?”

  “Where were you the morning that Jessica disappeared?”

  “Sabrina, I just told you that I didn’t have anything to do with Jessica’s disappearance.”

  “Please just answer the question,” I said.

  “I was at my mom’s place.”

  “So if I called your mother right now, she would verify that you were at her place that morning?”

  Ryan nodded.

  I took a deep breath. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

  “No. That’s everything.”

  I exhaled. “All right.”

  Just as I was finally feeling a sense of relief, Ryan held his pointer finger up.

  “Actually, there’s one more thing,” Ryan said.

  I grimaced. “What is it?”

  Ryan took a deep breath. “You’re right. I should have told you all of this a long time ago.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. You should have. And I still can’t believe that you didn’t.”

  “Look. I’m really sorry that I lied to you. That I kept this information from you. I never intended for things to work out this way.”

  “Trust me, Ryan. You’re not the only one who is sorry.”

  “I just hope that you can eventually forgive me,” he replied.

  I stared at him long and hard. My mind raced, even as my mouth remained shut.

  “Sabrina, can you forgive me?” he asked.

  “Just give me some time,” I said.

  “Fair enough,” Ryan replied.

  Ryan could focus on forgiveness all he wanted. That would come. It would probably take me a few weeks or even a few months, but I would eventually forgive him for lying to me. But there was one thing that wouldn’t come so easily to him.

  “The real question is, will you ever be able to forgive yourself for that final argument you had with Jessica? You’ve been blaming yourself for eleven years. Will you keep blaming yourself for eleven more?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “There is one thing I do know,” Ryan said.

  “What’s that?” I replied.

  “I hope you find the monster who killed your sister,” Ryan said.

  I nodded. “I will. Even if it’s the last thing I do.”

  ***

  I walked back to David’s car and told my boyfriend everything that Ryan had revealed to me. Not surprisingly, David had a number of follow up questions for me.

  “Do you believe Ryan’s story?” David asked.

  “I want to,” I replied.

  “That wasn’t my question,” David said. “What is your gut telling you?”

  “Look. I know he wasn’t truthful about his camping trip, but I don’t get the sense that he’s lying about being at his mom’s house at the time of Jessica’s disappearance,” I replied.

  “Unfortunately, when you find out that someone has lied to you, it’s hard not to question everything else they have told you.”

  I took a deep breath. “I know.”

  “Don’t misunderstand me. I realize how difficult of a situation this is, but you know what I need to do now,” David said.

  I reluctantly nodded.

  David pulled out his phone and gave Ryan’s mother a call. The entire time that David was on the phone, I was as tense as could be.

  Relief only came when David ended the call and revealed to me that Ryan’s mother was able to verify her son’s alibi for the time of Jessica’s disappearance.

  Now that Ryan’s alibi had been corroborated, he was finally in the clear. I had never felt happier to be able to cross a name off of my suspect list.

  Unfortunately, my relief proved to be short lived. After all, not only was my sister’s killer still
out there, but I had no idea who the guilty party was.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A little more than an hour later, David received a call over his police radio. There had been an Eric Tilden sighting. Apparently, he had stopped at a gas station on Route 12. The clerk behind the counter had recognized him and had called the police.

  A few minutes later, a deputy darted out to Route 12 and pulled Eric’s hearse over. The deputy was detaining Eric until David and I arrived on the scene.

  David put the pedal to the metal. My boyfriend and I ended up making our way to Route 12 in record time.

  David parked on the side of the road behind Deputy Winchell’s squad car. Eric was being detained in the backseat.

  As expected, Eric was in a foul mood. Then again, did anyone ever take being confined to the back of a squad car in stride? Certainly not any murder suspect I had ever met.

  “You have a lot of nerve,” Eric snapped.

  “I have been hearing that a lot today,” David said. “Unfortunately, one thing I have been hearing very little of is the truth.”

  “I already told you everything I know about Jessica’s disappearance, which is nothing,” Eric replied.

  “I told you something as well—not to leave town. So the way I see it, you’re the one with a lot of nerve. Now just where did you think you were going?” David asked.

  “I was going to see a friend in Paradise Grove—” Eric began to say.

  David gave him a wary stare. “So you weren’t trying to make a run for it?”

  Eric shook his head. “No. Of course not. Now let me go.”

  “I’m afraid the only place you’re going is to the police station,” David said.

  Eric snarled at David. “You can’t do that to me.”

  “Watch me,” David said.

  “But I didn’t do anything,” Eric replied.

  David nodded. “Yeah, you did. You disobeyed a direct order.”

  “I meant that I didn’t have anything to do with Jessica’s death,” Eric replied.

  “That is still up for debate. One thing that’s not is the fact that you are a flight risk. That’s why I’m going to detain you at the police station,” David said.