“Don’t lie,” I replied.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Todd said.
There had been a suspicious fire at his family’s bistro a few days ago. The whole place went up in flames in a matter of minutes. By the time the Treasure Cove Fire Department was able to arrive on the scene, it was already too late.
It took the firefighters over thirty minutes to put the blaze out. By then, there was no saving the bistro. When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the once-thriving eatery were the charred remains of tables, chairs, and various pieces of kitchen equipment.
At first, it seemed like the fire might have been an accident. Upon further investigation, it became clear that the blaze had been set intentionally.
I had no doubt in my mind that Todd was responsible for the fire, whether he was willing to admit it or not.
“We have a witness who says otherwise,” I replied.
Todd shook his head in disbelief. “No. That’s not possible.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “This eyewitness is willing to testify under oath that they saw you walk into the bistro shortly before the fire was set.”
Todd snarled. “I don’t know who this witness is, but they are lying.”
David held his hand up. “That’s not all.”
I continued. “This same witness then saw you running away from the bistro as it went up in flames.”
“No! That can’t be,” Todd snapped.
“Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it any less true,” I said.
Todd lost his grip on his emotions. “This ‘supposed’ witness is lying. I didn’t see anyone outside the bistro that night.”
My eyebrows rose. “So you’re admitting that you were at the bistro that evening, then?”
Todd’s face went as pale as could be. “Well, no. Wait—”
He could try to talk his way out of this all night, but it wouldn’t do him any good. There was no changing the fact that he had let his tongue slip.
Suddenly, David and I had him right where we wanted him.
I cut him off. “It’s too late to take it back, Todd. Face it, you just admitted that you were there that night.”
Todd squirmed. “No. You’ve got it all wrong.”
David stared him down. “Can we stop playing this ridiculous game already? We know you set that fire.”
Todd went into full denial mode. “No. I just misspoke.”
“Will you please stop lying? We know the truth. Like we already said, we have a witness who spotted you at the bistro that night,” David replied.
Todd narrowed his eyes. “And just who is this so-called witness of yours?”
“Their identity doesn’t matter,” I replied.
“It does to me. Especially since I don’t believe this person actually exists. I think you just made up a story about having a witness to trick me into making a confession,” Todd said.
I waggled my pointer finger at him. “You’re wrong again. Want to know the name of the man who spotted you that night? Fine. It’s Paulie Milton.”
Todd threw out his arms. “The homeless guy?”
“It doesn’t matter if he has a home or not. All that matters is what he saw,” I said.
A look of outrage came to Todd’s face. “I can’t believe you’re taking the word of a homeless man.”
“Over a liar like you? Absolutely,” David replied. “We have no reason to believe that Paulie is telling us anything but the truth. He was sleeping beside the dumpster in the alleyway behind your family’s bistro that night and saw you going in through the employee entrance carrying a can of gasoline shortly before the fire started.”
“That’s not all. He also saw you running away from the bistro a few minutes later as the place started to go up in flames,” I added.
David continued. “Face it, you’re going down. His testimony is going to send you to jail for a long time.”
Todd stared at the ground. He was dead quiet.
“What do you have to say for yourself now?” I asked.
Todd didn’t respond.
I went after him again. “Admit it, Todd. You set that fire.”
Todd glanced up at me and replied, “You’ve got it all wrong.”
David folded his arms. “If that’s your defense, this will be the shortest court case ever. You’ll be in jail so fast your head will spin. Was it worth it for a little bit of money?”
Todd shrugged. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on, let’s get serious. We know this was all about the money,” David said.
Todd shook his head. “No. You don’t know anything.”
“Your father put you up to it, didn’t he?” I asked.
Todd shrugged. “Where did you get that idea?”
“Are you really going to keep playing dumb? Your father paid you to burn the place down and make it look like an accident, didn’t he?” I asked.
“Why would he do that?” Todd said.
“For the insurance money,” I replied.
Todd’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
David held up a stack of papers. “Your father had a two million dollar policy on his bistro. If the insurance company ruled that the fire was an accident, you two would suddenly be a whole lot richer.”
“That’s quite a substantial payday. Especially considering that your father’s bistro was having significant financial problems lately,” I said.
“How much of a cut did your father offer you? Fifty percent of the insurance check?” David asked.
Todd stayed quiet.
“Why don’t you just come clean already? We know you did it. I have more than enough to arrest you for arson,” David said.
“Yeah? Then why are you so desperate for me to confess?” Todd asked.
“I’m giving you an opportunity here,” David said.
Todd threw out his arms. “To do what?”
“To tell us the whole truth. I mean, don’t get me wrong. You’re going to jail. But right now, your dad isn’t,” David said. “We know your father planned this, but at the moment, we can’t prove it. Not without your testimony. The question is, are you just going to let him walk free? Are you prepared to spend decades of your life in jail while he just goes about the rest of his life? Do you really want to take the fall for this all alone?”
Todd thought long and hard about what David just said. After nearly thirty seconds of silence, Todd finally spoke up.
“Say that my father did put me up to it,” Todd replied. “What would that information be worth to you?”
Chapter Two
Halloween was still a week away, but that didn’t stop things from getting creepy in Treasure Cove. Without fail, spooky things always seemed to happen during the month of October. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case this year. Clearly, I was dead wrong.
It was amazing how quickly Todd was willing to throw his father under the bus. His own flesh and blood. Not that Andrew Conway was a class act, either, convincing his son to burn down the family business. At the same time, seeing a son turn on his father made my skin crawl.
That was the part of the job that David hated the most. Pitting family members against each other to build a case. But as excruciating as it was, sometimes that was necessary to bring the guilty parties to justice.
After slapping a pair of handcuffs on Todd’s wrists, David hauled the arsonist off to the police station. Another police deputy, meanwhile, drove to Andrew Conway’s place and arrested him for conspiracy to commit arson.
They both spent the evening in jail—in separate cells, of course—until David was able to speak with the district attorney in the morning. Ultimately, the attorney agreed to make a deal with Todd Conway. Todd would still spend a number of years behind bars, but he would be given a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying against his father in court.
When David finished up his work shift that afternoon, he paid me a vi
sit. Although, a different David arrived at my house than I was used to seeing. My boyfriend was typically very good at being able to keep an even keel. That was why it was so incredible to see him looking like he had been run over by a freight train.
This case had made me so stressed out that I turned to candy for comfort. I opened up a bag of sweets that I had specifically bought to give to the trick-or-treaters. Thankfully, I had a number of days to make another trip to the grocery store to buy a replacement bag of candy before Halloween night arrived.
As I sat on my couch that afternoon, I told myself I would only have a handful of candy to calm myself down. The problem was that sweets were just so addictive. Especially the little individually wrapped chocolate squares that had caramel filling inside them.
Mmm.
It was safe to say that the road to diet ruin was paved with bite-sized Halloween candy.
David shook his head in disbelief as he took a seat on the couch in my family room and popped a piece of candy in his mouth. “It’s amazing what people are willing to do for money.”
“Or who they are willing to throw under the bus in exchange for a reduced prison sentence,” I replied.
David exhaled. “Tell me about it.” He winced. “It’s pretty shocking to think how little it took to get Todd to sell out his own father.”
“I can’t imagine selling my father out,” I said.
David looked equally bewildered. “Neither can I. Then again, I can’t imagine my dad burning the family business down for the insurance money.”
“So true,” I said. “I mean, even if business really started to sputter at Daley Buzz and things became dire, I know my stepdad would never do anything as crazy as set the place on fire.”
“Unfortunately, things work a little differently in the Conway family.”
“You know, it’s times like these that make me appreciate being raised by such good parents.”
David nodded. “Yeah. It’s certainly one of those count-your-blessings kinds of moments.”
I scrunched my nose. “That said, when I think back on all the times that I went to Conway’s Bistro in the past, I never got a sense that Andrew was capable of doing something so crazy.”
David shook his head. “It makes you wonder how well you really know some people, doesn’t it?”
“Not just that. It also makes me question how things could have gotten so dire for the Conway family to stoop to such a dubious low.”
He gritted his teeth. “I fear it’s just a sign of the times.”
I grimaced. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“Unfortunately, when it comes to this subject, the truth and what you want to hear are two very different things. Would you prefer that I lie to you?”
I shook my head. “No. I just wish the circumstances were different.”
“So do I, but the fact is that desperation is in the air. Even more, the odds are that the Conways were just the latest family to crack.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I can’t help but notice that you didn’t say the last to crack.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I would love it if something like this never happened again,” he said. “I could go for some serious peace and quiet right now.”
“I second that.”
“But I’m not going to pretend that I know the future,” David said.
“That’s a wise decision. Especially in a town like this.”
“So true. Treasure Cove never fails to defy expectations,” David said.
I exhaled. “Don’t remind me.” I stared out into the distance. “It’s a crazy world we’re living in. Granted, I knew that things were getting desperate in town, but to burn down your own restaurant? I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around this.”
“Of course you are. You’re not crazy,” David said.
I bit my lip. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure that you can just generalize like that. After all, this wasn’t the work of two lifelong criminals. It was a father and a son with no prior arrest record to speak of.”
“There’s one thing that you seem to be forgetting. The law doesn’t care if you have a rap sheet.”
“I know that. And obviously, if you commit a crime, you need to do the time. But I’m thinking about the big picture here. Desperation got the best of a formerly law-abiding family like the Conways. So I can’t help but wonder how thin the line is for the rest of us.”
“Sabrina, I know you’re worried about other people cracking—”
“Aren’t you?”
David shook his head. “No. I think this is just an isolated incident.”
My nose crinkled. “I wish I agreed.”
“Honey, I know this is traumatic. But you have to remember that before this happened, things had been very peaceful around here for the last fourteen months.”
“I guess you’re right.”
He looked deep into my eyes. “I am right. After all, think of it this way. Just last week, the biggest case on my desk was my neighbor having a few packages stolen from his doorstep.”
I chuckled. “Talk about simpler times.”
“Exactly. And the odds are that things will calm down in Treasure Cove again.”
I grimaced. “Unless the Jake Williamson Effect decides to strikes once more.”
David’s eyebrows knitted. “I’m sorry. Since when does Jake have his own effect?”
“Since I just coined the phrase. You have to admit, the man is like a destructive force of nature who leaves a trail of crushed spirits in his wake.”
Jake Williamson wasn’t just a local real estate developer. Over the last fourteen months, he had been on a business-buying frenzy. In addition to the dozens of properties that he already owned, he had added another twenty new ones to his company’s roster. At the frenetic rate that he was going, he seemed poised to own a majority of the businesses in Treasure Cove in the next few years.
Like always, he targeted small, family-run places with extreme prejudice. He either bought them out or ran them out of business. Then, once the mom-and-pop shops finally closed their doors, he brought in national chain stores to replace them. With those kinds of cutthroat business tactics, was it any wonder that a sense of hopelessness was in the air?
“Sabrina, if you keep talking like that then Jake will never give you a job doing public relations for him,” David wisecracked.
I scoffed. “Like I’d ever work for a shark like that anyway. The man is gutting the soul of Treasure Cove.”
“I’m pretty sure he disagrees with that assessment,” David replied.
“Why don’t you ask the Conways about Jake? Their bistro seemed to be doing just fine until Jake opened up a competing chain across the street from their place seven months ago.”
“True. Although, that doesn’t excuse what the Conways did.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” I said. “But it goes a long way in explaining Andrew Conway’s desperation.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“Face it. Jake is pushing people to the brink and he doesn’t even care. The only thing on his mind is his bank account.”
David groaned. “You know what they say. Money talks.”
“Yeah? Well it’s about time that Jake stops and does some listening…before someone else goes over the edge,” I replied.
As David stared into my eyes, concern came to his face. “Uh-oh. Are your instincts acting up again?”
I nodded. “They sure are. And they are saying that this might just be the tip of the iceberg.”
Chapter Three
Morning brought a beautiful sunrise with it. Was that a sign of good things to come? It was a good start. Certainly better than the cloud of uncertainty that had hung over too many of my days in the past.
The weather app on my phone indicated that I could expect clear blue skies all day. Unfortunately, there was no app that could forecast whether some unforeseen drama would swallow my day.
The unsettling feeli
ng in my gut was still present, but I tried not to get too bogged down with anxiety. Instead, I took my pet corgi Snickerdoodle out for a walk in hopes of clearing my head.
Snickerdoodle and I both loved the fall foliage. I was a huge fan of the vibrant colors, while Doodle couldn’t get enough of running headfirst into various piles of leaves.
The Halloween decorations were out in full force as well. Some houses went all out, turning their residences into full-scale haunted houses. Other families put a few plastic headstones in the yard with a fake skeleton or two for good measure. Then there was the occasional place that had no decorations to speak of.
When I went by those houses, I wondered if a bowl of candy would even be left out for the kids on Halloween night. If not, what a shame. Or maybe those would be the families who gave out apples when the children only wanted a few pieces of candy.
Snickerdoodle and I ended up taking such a long walk that we made our way over to Watterson Park. By the time we returned home, I felt refreshed.
When I arrived at Daley Buzz, however, it didn’t take me long to realize that more was brewing that morning than coffee. My family’s shop wasn’t just a place to grab a pumpkin-flavored latte and a muffin on the way to work. Some mornings, it was also ground zero for gossip.
That was partially why I wasn’t thrilled to start my work shift. With both Todd and Andrew Conway behind bars, I fully expected that conversation about them would be inevitable. Especially since I had played such a large role in bringing them to justice.
Much to my surprise, the conversation at work ended up focusing on another subject entirely. Shortly after I arrived at work, a diamond ring took center stage. There was nothing quite like a dazzling piece of jewelry to attract attention.
But my eyes weren’t just fixed on the ring itself. Equally intriguing to me was who was wearing the ring—my friend and employee, Kelly O’Reilly.
“You’re engaged?” I said.
The curvy, blue-eyed, angular-faced thirty-year-old barista beamed while I gawked at her new ring.
“I’m still in shock myself,” Kelly replied.
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 68
