Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Meredith Potts

  Three questions immediately sprang to my mind. Why wasn’t he in a good mood? Why had he arrived at the party so late? And where was Julie? I figured that the couple would arrive together. Apparently, I was wrong.

  I walked over to Wally, looking to get some answers.

  Instead, when he spotted me, he fired a question my way.

  “Have you seen Julie?” he asked.

  My forehead wrinkled. What a strange question for him to have asked me.

  “Wait. Didn’t she come with you?” I replied.

  He shook his head. “No. I actually have no clue where she is right now. That’s the problem.” His face strained. “So you haven’t seen her, then?”

  I grimaced. “I’m afraid not. I figured you two were coming here together.”

  “That was the plan, but when I went to pick her up, she wasn’t at home. Strangely enough, she also didn’t answer her phone.”

  “That is very odd.”

  “Disturbing is more like it.”

  I held my pointer finger up. “Maybe she’s at work.”

  He grimaced. “I checked there, too. She left work almost two hours ago.”

  “Do you think she might have gotten in an accident on her way home?”

  “I hope not.”

  “Me too, but that’s a possibility—”

  He interrupted me. “Except if that was the case, she would have called me.”

  “True. Unless she’s unconscious—”

  “Don’t say that,” he replied. “Please.”

  “I’m sorry. But look, chances are, she’s just fine. I mean, maybe there’s some other kind of explanation for why you haven’t heard from her.”

  “I want to believe that, but that’s hard to do right now given the fact that I have no clue where she is right now.”

  I scanned the room. “I wish I could tell you she’s here, but I haven’t seen her all night.”

  He winced. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of. I mean, she’s not at work, she’s not at home, and she’s not here, so where could she be?”

  “I wish I had a good answer for you,” I said. “Think really hard. Is there anywhere else you can think of where she might be?”

  He grimaced. “No. Nothing comes to mind. That’s the problem.”

  Wally’s grip on his emotions was slipping.

  I replied with as calm of a voice as I could muster. “Look. I know it would be easy to panic, but try to resist.”

  “It’s too late for that.”

  I held both my hands out. “I told you before. There might be a simple explanation for why you haven’t heard from her.”

  “Such as?”

  I fell silent.

  When Wally got tired of me not replying, he fired a different question at me. “You don’t have an answer, do you?”

  “I can’t think of one right now.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”

  “Or like you brought up before, maybe she’s been in an accident—”

  I waggled my pointer finger at him. “Before you go any farther down that road, when was the last time talked to her?”

  “A few hours ago.”

  “Did she sound distressed?”

  “No. She sounded just fine. She was really excited about this party.”

  I scratched my chin. “Have you called her parents?”

  He nodded. “They haven’t heard from her.”

  “How about her friends?”

  “I called them, too. None of them have heard from her in the last few hours.” Fear took hold of him. “It’s like she just vanished or something.”

  “I think it’s a little too soon to jump to conclusions.”

  He couldn’t keep his panic at bay any longer. “That’s what I thought until I got here. But what other explanation is there?”

  A shiver went down my spine as I searched my mind for an innocuous answer, only to come up empty. I wanted to try to comfort him, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could say to calm him down.

  Ultimately, there was only one thing I could do to help him. “Let me talk to David. He can phone the local hospital and also check in with the 9-1-1 operator to see if anyone called anything in.”

  “Thank you,” Wally said.

  “In the meantime, pray for the best.”

  “Trust me. I will.”

  Chapter Seven

  David called the hospital, but Julie was not registered as a patient there. There were also no Jane Does admitted that evening. My boyfriend also called the police dispatcher, only to find out that there had been no 9-1-1 calls placed.

  From there, he checked in with Julie’s work, but she wasn’t there. He drove over to her house to see if she had happened to return home, but again came up empty. Finally, he placed a call to each of her friends and family members. Unfortunately, no one had any idea where she was.

  At that point, I was in full panic mode. There was no sign of her anywhere. Even more, no one even seemed to have a clue where to look for her.

  I prayed hard that night. Unfortunately, no answers were waiting for me in the morning. Julie’s whereabouts were still a mystery.

  It was difficult not to fear the worst. A flurry of questions swirled through my head. Where was Julie? What had happened to her? Why wasn’t she answering her phone? Had she been in an accident? Was she unconscious? Was she even still alive?

  That last question gave me chills. Granted, it was the worst-case scenario, but it had to be considered—at least briefly. I was trying my best to stay positive, so I cast that question aside, but it refused to go away completely.

  I stayed close to my phone all day, waiting for any update from either Wally or David.

  Unfortunately, none came.

  That afternoon, when I drove home from work, I passed by storefronts with holiday window displays, a life-sized nativity scene in front of Treasure Cove Church, a mall with a jammed parking lot, houses with thousands of lights strung up across the porch, and a twenty-foot-tall meticulously decorated Christmas tree that stood in Watterson Park, but the holidays were the last thing on my mind.

  Julie filled my thoughts and would continue to do so until she was found. The only exception was when my thoughts briefly drifted to my sister, Jessica. I had been trying to avoid thinking of the mysterious circumstances surrounding Jessica’s disappearance over a decade ago.

  I just hoped that this situation with Julie would turn out differently. It was bad enough discovering that Jessica had been murdered. If Julie ended up turning up dead as well—at the holidays, no less—it would be devastating.

  I tried to distract myself by staring at some pretty Christmas lights, but it wasn’t long before my mind focused on Julie once again.

  ***

  In times of great stress, I often turned to junk food. If it didn’t involve turning around and heading three miles out of my way, I would have stopped at Luigi’s Gelato right then. Instead, realizing that Stacey’s Smoothies was only a block away from my current location, I decided to head over there for a snack.

  Imagine my surprise when I pulled in front of Stacey’s only to find that the smoothie shop was closed—permanently. The only reason I knew that for sure was because a big banner hung out front that read: Coming Soon, Smoothie Mart.

  Grr.

  I knew exactly who was behind the closure of Stacey’s. It had to be Jake Williamson. The sleazy real estate developer was trying to buy up every small business in town and bring in nothing but chain stores. This move had his fingerprints all over it.

  With all the stress that I was already wrestling with, I didn’t have the usual amount of energy to get appalled over Jake’s actions. Instead, I headed home and devoured two Christmas cupcakes.

  Normally, that type of sugar bomb would make me feel a little bit better. But go figure, that afternoon, my frustration was too much for cupcakes to alleviate.

  Chapter Eight

  A few hours later, David
finished up his shift at work and swung by my house. Unfortunately, he did not bring any good news with him. He still had no idea where Julie was or what had happened to her. Although, he had contacted the press and had provided them with Julie’s photo. A tip line had also been created for people to call if they spotted her.

  Even though David was doing everything in his power to find Julie, it was hard to not be discouraged by the lack of progress that was being made.

  I groaned. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Sabrina, I’m sorry. But we don’t know exactly what has happened yet,” David replied.

  “That doesn’t make me feel better. There are a lot of possibilities, and none of them are any good.”

  Resolve was all over his face as he stared into my eyes. “I’m going to find her.”

  “I know you are. The question is, will she still be alive when you do?”

  “Don’t talk like that.”

  “It’s hard not to.”

  “There’s still a chance that she’ll be just fine.”

  “I know. But I’m also aware that the longer she stays missing, the lower the chances are of her ever being found alive.”

  “I know that your friend going missing is the last thing that you need during the holidays. But hope is the only thing that can carry us through this.”

  “You’re right. Sorry. It’s just been a tough day.”

  “Trust me. I know exactly what you mean.”

  “You sure do. After all, you’ve been the one out investigating all day.”

  He gazed at me. “Look. After what happened to your sister, I know it would be really easy to think that this will turn out the same way. But that doesn’t mean it will.”

  “David, thank you for trying to make me feel better, but I really don’t want to talk about my sister right now.”

  “Right. Of course.”

  I changed the subject. “After such a long day, I’ll bet you are really hungry.”

  He rubbed his stomach. “Now that you mention it, I could go for a good meal. Did you make something?”

  “I was actually trying to suggest that we could go out to dinner. I’m not in the mood to cook,” I said.

  “That’s understandable,” he said. “Is there any place you have in mind?”

  My eyes lit up. “Some surf and turf from Treasure Cove Seafood would sure hit the spot.”

  An uncomfortable look briefly came to his face. He tried to cover it up with a smile, but by then, I had already noticed that something was amiss with him.

  “Why don’t we skip dinner and go straight to eating Christmas cookies?” David asked.

  “You are always up for dessert, aren’t you?” I joked.

  He shrugged. “Who doesn’t love dessert?”

  “True. Then again, Treasure Cove Seafood serves some killer desserts.”

  David grimaced. “Why don’t we head over to Home Away From Home Cooking instead?”

  I shook my head. “We go there all the time. I feel like it’s time to mix things up.”

  “How about Café C’est Magnifique, then?” David replied.

  My forehead wrinkled. “What do you have against Treasure Cove Seafood all of a sudden?”

  David got quiet.

  “Did you do some kind of a bust there recently?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Did you just find out that they got a really bad health inspection?” I asked.

  “It’s not that, either.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Then what’s going on?”

  He took a deep breath. “I have some news about Treasure Cove Seafood.”

  I tensed up. “Uh-oh. Something did happen there, didn’t it?”

  “Promise that you won’t freak out,” David said.

  “What, did they find rats in the kitchen?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Then what is it?” I said.

  “They went out of business,” David said.

  My eyebrows rose. “Wait. Since when?”

  “Since a few days ago.”

  “But…I don’t get it. Why?”

  David opened his mouth to answer.

  Before he could get any words out, a creeping suspicion took hold of me. “Wait a minute. Did Jake Williamson buy the place?”

  David didn’t even have to verbalize his response. The glum look on his face told me everything I needed to know.

  He verified my suspicions by nodding.

  That news took the wind out of me. Treasure Cove Seafood wasn’t just a restaurant. It was one of my favorites. They made the most delicious surf-and-turf plate in town.

  At least they used to. With their closure, another great local business was no more. Even worse, Jake would no doubt replace the restaurant with some generic chain place.

  I grimaced.

  “Please don’t freak out,” David said.

  I didn’t reply to him. Mostly because I couldn’t figure out the right words to go with. Instead, I just stared off into the distance.

  That didn’t sit well with David. “Sabrina. I know it’s upsetting, but—”

  It would be easy to let myself get down. To obsess about Jake and how he was transforming this town. But I had already done plenty of that in the past, and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere. It certainly hadn’t stopped Jake from buying up more businesses.

  Besides, with Julie’s disappearance, there were bigger fish to fry.

  David ended up taking me to Home Sweet Home Cooking Restaurant. Not just for dinner. We also hoped to be able to catch a break in the missing-persons case. As expected, all of the employees were distraught over their coworker’s disappearance. Unfortunately, none of them were able to provide us with any leads.

  Chapter Nine

  For the second straight morning, I woke up no closer to getting answers. Instead of letting myself get discouraged, I threw on my work clothes and headed over to Daley Buzz for my shift.

  During the entire drive over to the coffee shop, I had to fight off feelings of impending doom. It took a lot of energy, but I was determined to keep a positive mindset.

  All that changed when I parked in front of Daley Buzz and spotted Jake Williamson at Bella’s Boutique, a retail store that was located a few doors down from my family’s shop. Other than Daley Buzz, Bella’s was one of the few remaining family-run places left on Main Street.

  So naturally I was filled with concern when I saw Jake coming out of Bella’s. The slick-haired fifty-one-year-old real estate developer had openly admitted that his goal was to buy up every small business in town and replace them with chain stores.

  I could only think of two reasons why he would be coming out of a women’s boutique. And since he wasn’t carrying a bag full of clothes, to me it was clear that he hadn’t just bought some outfits for his girlfriend. The more logical explanation was that he had gone in there to try and convince the Galway family to sell their business to him.

  There was a sharkish look in Jake’s blue eyes as I approached him. He snapped at me before I had the chance to even say a word to him. “Don’t start with me. I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.”

  I shrugged. “Where’s your holiday spirit?”

  “I know you only came over here to get on my case, but don’t bother.”

  “Calm down. I just want to ask you a question.”

  He folded his arms. “Oh yeah? What question?”

  “Are you looking to buy Bella’s Boutique, too?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “Sure it is—”

  He cut me off. “You never learn, do you?”

  “I don’t know why you’re being so hostile to me.”

  “Because you’re nothing but trouble, and I don’t have to listen to you.”

  “Of course you don’t. But you should. The way I see it, you’re overdue.”

  Jake started to walk away from me. “Excuse me, but I have a business empire to run.”


  “You can run, but you can’t hide from this conversation. I’ll catch up with you sooner or later.”

  “You’re wasting your breath,” he replied. “I have nothing to say to you.”

  “Yeah? Well, I have one big thing to say to you. Why did you go back on our deal?” I asked.

  Just two months ago, Jake had made a verbal agreement with me not to buy up so many local businesses. I should have known his word was worth nothing.

  He scoffed. “I only made that deal with you to shut you up. I have a plan for this city, and nothing is going to stop me.”

  “I would strongly rethink your strategy.”

  “Sure, you would. But there’s no chance that I’m going to do that.”

  I shook my head. “That isn’t a good call.”

  He sneered. “Maybe not in your mind.”

  “Does your greed have no end?”

  Jake groaned. “I’m done with this conversation. I have already wasted enough of my time trying to talk sense into you.”

  “You already own half the town. Why can’t you just leave the rest of the businesses alone? I mean, Stacey’s Smoothies, Treasure Cove Seafood, and maybe even Bella’s Boutique—on top of what you already own. Where does it end?”

  He smirked. “You’ll see.”

  “That’s the problem. I’m afraid of where this is going,” I said.

  “I don’t know why you keep making the mistake of thinking that I care about your opinion.”

  “I’m just saying. If you push people far enough, they just might start pushing back,” I replied. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  He laughed. “Warn me? About what?”

  “When times get desperate, sometimes people do crazy things.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to scare me?”

  “No. I’m just telling you the truth.”

  He shook his head dismissively. “Spare me. Like I said, I have plans—”