I grimaced. “Do you have anything to show for it, at least?”
“Just an empty stomach.”
“That’s a shame. Do you want to go out and get some gelato?”
“Don’t think that hasn’t occurred to me.”
“So wait, is that a yes or no?” I asked.
“Of course I want to. But I’m not going to. Not with this case so up in the air,” he said.
“Does that mean you haven’t made any headway even after staring at the case file all morning?”
“Unfortunately, the only thing I have to show for my efforts is a headache.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “Maybe you should get some gelato. You know, as brain food.”
“Isn’t that what donuts are for?”
“In my experience, you can never have too much brain food.”
He opened up a box on his desk that was empty except for a few crumbs.
“I’ve already had plenty of food this morning. Now I’m just waiting for my brain to come up with some investigative magic.”
“So you have no fresh leads, then?”
He shook his head.
“I’m completely stumped too.” I groaned. “So, where do we go from here?”
“I’m going to prepare a statement for the press,” he said. “Other than that, we can’t do much more than pray.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next day
“Sabrina, you need to come here right now,” Kelly said over the phone.
My friend was frantic. Her voice cracked as she spoke. Poor thing. She was having a rough couple of days. These panicked phone calls were becoming disturbingly common.
The last time she had called me in such distress, it was because she had discovered Delilah’s dead body. Amazingly enough, she sounded equally freaked out right now.
She couldn’t have discovered a second dead body, could she?
My heart sank as I considered the possibility.
I certainly couldn’t dismiss the idea. After all, this was Treasure Cove, where crazy things kept happening at an alarming rate.
By that point, I had worked myself into a tizzy. But while my mind was racing with horrifying hypotheticals, I tried to respond in as calm of a manner as I could.
“Kelly. What’s the matter?” I said.
“He’s here,” she replied.
“Who is?” I asked. “And where are you?”
“I’m at home, but I’m not alone. Ziggy Hummel is here.”
My eyes widened. “Wait. He’s inside your house?”
“No. He’s at my front door. He keeps knocking and he won’t leave.”
I grabbed my keys and headed to the front door of my house. “I’m on my way.”
Kelly exhaled. “Good.”
As I walked out to my car, I tried to get more answers from Kelly.
“I have to admit that I’m thoroughly confused,” I said. “What’s Ziggy even doing at your place?”
“He followed me home.”
A shiver went down my spine. “Why would he do that?”
“Because of what I saw,” Kelly said.
My muscles tightened. “I’m not following.”
“Earlier today, I went out to my favorite yoga studio to try and realign my chakras. When I arrived in front of the studio, I spotted Ziggy Hummel and Saffron Conklin together.”
“Are you serious?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you mean romantically together?”
“It’s complicated.”
I opened my car door, took a seat, and fired up the ignition. “Try to simplify it for me,” I said.
“Saffron tried to kiss Ziggy, but he turned her away,” Kelly said.
I pulled out of my driveway and headed over to Kelly’s place. “That’s pretty crazy,” I said. “How did Saffron take the rejection?”
“Not well. Although, Ziggy was the one who really lost his temper. He began yelling at Saffron until she dashed away in tears.”
“Did you hear what he said to her to make her cry?”
“No. I was just far enough away that I couldn’t make out the words.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Not as big of a shame as what happened next.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“I tried to head back to my car without Ziggy noticing me, but I must have done a poor job of it because he started yelling my name,” Kelly said.
“What did you do, then?”
“I just booked it to my car and drove straight home. Unfortunately, Ziggy followed me here.”
“Do you know what he wants?”
“No. But I’m afraid of finding out.”
“Okay, well look. I’m on my way. Just hold tight. I’ll be there soon,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I called David and filled him in on the details that Kelly had told me. David jumped in his car and darted over to Kelly’s place. Since David lived a little closer to Kelly’s house than I did, we ended up arriving at her street at the same time.
David and I parked our cars in front of Kelly’s place and turned our attention to Ziggy, who was still standing on her front step knocking on her door.
“I know you are in there. I just want to talk to you,” Ziggy said.
David and I got out of our cars and approached Ziggy.
“Step away from the door and turn around slowly,” David demanded.
Ziggy whirled around with a shocked expression on his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Let me see your hands,” David said.
Ziggy held both of his hands out in plain sight. Thankfully, he wasn’t holding a weapon of any kind.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Ziggy said.
“Oh yeah? What exactly are you doing here?” David said.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Ziggy said.
“Kelly didn’t like you following her home so she called for some help,” David said. “Now, what’s your story?”
“I just wanted to talk to her is all,” Ziggy said.
“About what she saw in front of the yoga studio this morning?” I asked.
Ziggy nodded. “Yes. Because I think she got the wrong impression of what was really going on.”
“So Saffron didn’t try to kiss you then? And you didn’t turn her away? Or yell at her? Or make her cry?” I asked.
“It wasn’t what it looked like,” Ziggy said.
“I hope you have a good explanation because things look very bad for you right now,” I said.
“Hey, Saffron was the one who came on to me,” Ziggy said.
“And you’re not interested in her?” I asked.
“No. Not at all. I never have been,” Ziggy said.
“Wait. Never?” I asked. “Has she come on to you before?”
Ziggy nodded. “A number of times. She has practically been throwing herself at me for months. At first, I let her down gently. But she just hasn’t gotten the message. So I decided to make myself completely clear this morning.”
“I think you did that and more,” I said.
Ziggy grimaced. “So I might have gone a little overboard.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” I said.
“Look. I’m sorry. My emotions have been really raw since Delilah’s death,” Ziggy said.
“Because you were in love with her,” I said.
Ziggy groaned. “Are we really going to get into this again?”
I held my pointer finger up. “Did Saffron know how strongly you felt about Delilah?”
“For the last time, I never said I felt strongly about Delilah. Those are your words, not mine,” Ziggy replied.
David folded his arms. “Mr. Hummel, you’re not fooling anyone. We know you had feelings for Delilah. So the sooner you stop lying, the better off you’ll be.”
Ziggy threw out his arms. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“We will, when you’re done answering ou
r questions,” David said.
“Now, be honest with me,” I said. “Did Saffron know how you felt about Delilah?”
“Why does that even matter?” Ziggy asked.
“It could actually be the key to everything. Including proving your innocence,” I said.
Ziggy’s eyebrows rose. “Are you serious?”
“Will you please just answer the question?” I asked.
Ziggy nodded. “Yeah. Saffron knew exactly how much I cared about Delilah.”
“Thank you,” I said. “You’ve been more help than you even realize.”
Ziggy’s forehead wrinkled. “Do you want to explain to me what’s going on?”
I smiled. “It will all be clear soon enough.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
David and I did a little more digging around, then we headed over to Saffron Conklin’s place. I hadn’t even made it to Saffron’s front door yet, and I could already smell incense burning. David and I took a few more steps and reached the porch of Saffron’s green, ranch-style house, where I heard soft pan flute music playing inside. To me, that was an indicator that Saffron was definitely home. The question became, would she speak with us?
Thankfully, after only a few knocks, Saffron opened her door. Her nose crinkled as she stared at David.
“Detective Carlson. Sabrina. I didn’t expect to see you again,” Saffron said.
“Trust me. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important,” David replied.
“How is the case going?” she asked.
“Actually, we have made a surprising discovery,” David said.
“Is that so?” Saffron asked.
David nodded.
“Does that mean you are close to catching the killer?” Saffron asked.
“As a matter of fact, we are,” David said.
Saffron’s nose crinkled. “Then what are you doing here?”
“Ms. Conklin, are you really going to make me do this the hard way?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Do what?”
David groaned. “Why don’t you just come clean?”
“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.
“Stop playing games with us. We know what you did,” David said.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Saffron said.
I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. “You killed Delilah.”
Saffron’s eyes lit up with rage. “How dare you accuse me of something so terrible?”
“No. How dare you murder your own boss?” I asked.
“I don’t know where you got that crazy idea from, but I had nothing to do with Delilah’s death,” Saffron said.
“At least, that’s what you want us to believe. That’s why, when you were done killing your boss, you took her logbook from the shop,” I said. “That way you could try to pin the crime on someone like Matt Tilden.”
“This is ludicrous,” Saffron said.
“Is it?” I asked. I held up an evidence bag that had an old logbook inside of it. “We found this in the trash can beside your house.”
“I don’t know how that got there,” Saffron said. “Besides, what gives you the right to root through my garbage?”
David held up a piece of paper. “This is a search warrant for your property. We had every right to go through your garbage.”
“You finding that logbook doesn’t prove anything. Anyone could have tossed that book in my trash can to try and frame me,” Saffron said.
“That’s not all we have on you, Saffron. You told us that you were home all evening on the night that the murder took place,” David said.
“That’s right,” Saffron said.
“Except that we talked to your neighbors, and they say differently. According to them, your car wasn’t parked in your driveway that night. At least, not until after ten o’clock. Which was after the murder occurred.”
Saffron glared at one of her neighbor’s houses. “Nosy, good-for-nothing busybodies.” She then stared at David. “That still doesn’t prove I killed Delilah.”
“It would certainly go a long way in convincing a jury. Especially when you throw in what happened with Ziggy this morning,” David said.
Saffron grimaced.
I spoke up. “That’s right. We know that you tried to kiss him. And that he turned you away. Just like he had a number of times before. Because the woman that he truly loved was Delilah.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Saffron said.
“Sure I do. It all makes sense. You’re desperately in love with Ziggy. That’s why you didn’t mention his name as a possible suspect when we first interviewed you. That’s why you tried to kiss him this morning. And that’s why you killed Delilah,” I said. “You knew that you couldn’t compete with Delilah while she was alive. But you figured if she was out of the picture that Ziggy would be as good as yours, didn’t you?”
Saffron remained silent.
“Didn’t you?” I asked.
Saffron was unable to keep a lid on her emotions any longer. “Yes. I did it. I killed her.” She took a deep breath. “I thought that Ziggy would come to his senses. That with Delilah gone, he would finally see the love that was in front of him all along. My love.”
“Only you were dead wrong,” I said. “And now it’s going to cost you the rest of your life in jail.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Three days later
“Coffee sweet coffee,” I said.
I stood behind the counter at Daley Buzz and took a delicious sip of my drink.
My mother looked up from her cup with a wide-eyed expression on her face. “How could we survive the morning without it?”
I was just about to reply when I heard the sound of a familiar voice speaking up from the entrance of the coffee shop. The voice belonged to Jake Williamson.
“That’s one of life’s great mysteries,” he said.
With Delilah’s killer behind bars, things were finally starting to get back to normal in town. As I turned my focus to Jake at the front of the shop, however, I couldn’t help but wonder if my life was about to be thrown for another loop.
“Jake,” I said. “They finally released you from the hospital, huh?”
He approached the counter. “They actually let me go a few days ago. I have just been trying to keep a low profile.”
My nose crinkled. “That’s not like you at all.”
“Not like the old me, you mean? I’m not the same Jake anymore.”
“Oh yeah? And just how different is the new Jake?”
“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“Why is that?”
“It turns out when you spend a few days stuck in a hospital bed staring down your own mortality, you end up doing a good amount of soul-searching.”
“I imagine,” I said.
“You also find yourself reexamining some of our life decisions.”
“Any in particular that stand out?”
“I think you know the answer to that one already.”
“I have a few guesses.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll bet. Well, suffice it to say, I have determined that some change is in order.”
“So, what’s the new Jake going to be like?”
“If the last week has taught me anything, it is that you can have all the money in the world, but if you’re dead, it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s a pretty blunt way to put it,” I said. “But I can’t argue with that.”
“Of course you can’t. The fact is, you were right. People aren’t going to just warm up to me on their own. I need to give them a reason to stop hating my guts.”
“You certainly aren’t mincing words today, are you?”
“Why would I? Life has proven that it is willing to pull the rug out from under me at a moment’s notice, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t just speak my mind.”
“Fair enough. On that note, how are you going t
o get people to warm up to you?”
“To start, I’m not going to buy up any more businesses in town.”
“Are you serious?”
Jake nodded. “I know I have said it before, but I really mean it this time.”
“You have no idea how much I want to believe you,” I replied.
“I get it. You’ve had every reason to doubt me in the past, but now I see the damage that I have done to this town. That’s why I’m determined to change. And I assure you, things are going to be different from here on out.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Then you’re going to love this,” he said. “Later today, I’m going to be announcing a brand-new initiative that will provide free training and employment services to anyone who has ever lost their job because of me.”
My eyebrows rose. “Really?”
He held his pointer finger up. “That’s not all. I’m also establishing a million-dollar fund to invest in new businesses started by local entrepreneurs.”
That last bit left me speechless. I stood with my mouth agape, unable to untie my tongue. When a few moments passed without my replying, Jake spoke up.
“So what do you think?”
“Not only have I never seen this side to you,” I said. “But I didn’t even realize that it existed.”
“Until recently, neither did I. It’s amazing what you learn about yourself after having a near-death experience.”
“I guess so.”
“Trust me. It’s very humbling staring down your own mortality and realizing you are lucky to be alive,” Jake said.
“I’m glad you’ve decided to make the best of your second chance at life. Those are some pretty impressive initiatives.”
“I hope the rest of the residents of this town agree with you.”
“I think they will.”
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I’m doing everything I can think of to create some goodwill.”
“It’s definitely a nice start.”
“Anyway, I need to be going,” he said. “I have a busy day ahead of me.”
“You sure do.”
“Before I head out, though, I just wanted to thank you again.”
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 93
