Killer Campaign (Lisa Chance Cozy Mysteries Book 3)

by Estelle Richards

  “I’m proud of you, kid,” he said.

  “Thanks, Daddy.”

  “Want to go grab a bite to eat? We can bring something home to your mother.”

  “Actually, I thought I’d wait around for Mo to get here.”

  Lou laughed. “That’s right, he missed all the excitement.”

  “Besides, I expect Mom is going to be doing interviews all night.”

  “Interviews?” Lou said.

  “Did you see the way the reporters were salivating? It’s a juicy scandal. They love that stuff.”

  “Oh, boy. Maybe I’ll just go home and see if I can catch CSI: Boston,” Lou said.

  “Sounds fun.”

  “Yep.” Lou paused, shifting from foot to foot.

  “Is everything ok, Dad?”

  “I can’t leave you alone in the building,” he said, lifting his hands in a helpless gesture. “Liability issues.”

  “Ok,” Lisa said with a chuckle.

  She followed Lou outside and leaned against the brick wall, feeling like she’d gone back in time to her own high school days.

  After Lou had gone, Lisa dug in her purse for a stick of gum or a mint. Her mouth tasted like an ashtray, even though she’d done her best to avoid inhaling the smoke. She intended to kiss Mo when he arrived and didn’t want to gross him out. Finally, she found a bent stick in a silver foil wrapper. She chewed the stiff gum, inviting the artificial mint flavor to overtake the smoke taste.

  Mo didn’t leave her waiting long. His truck pulled up in the vacant parking lot. Lisa balled up the gum in its wrapper and tossed it in the trash. Mo wandered over to the band room, his head swiveling back and forth.

  “Where is everybody?” he said.

  “You missed one very exciting debate,” Lisa said.

  “I missed it?” Mo said. He checked his watch. “I thought it was scheduled for at least another forty minutes.”

  “Fern Valentine was the killer,” Lisa said.

  Mo’s mouth dropped open. “We spend one day apart and you catch another killer?”

  “I guess,” Lisa said.

  “You guess. Babe, you are something else,” Mo said, gathering her in for a hug. “You are the smartest, prettiest, sweetest, most reckless woman I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m also starving,” Lisa said into his shirt.

  “How does ice cream sound?” Mo said.

  “Amazing.”

  Chapter 32

  Penny burst into the café first thing Saturday morning, as soon as Lisa flipped the sign to say the café was open. Dark circles under Penny’s eyes suggested she’d slept poorly.

  “Hi, Mom. What’s up?” Lisa said.

  “I can’t believe we have to wait three more days for the election,” Penny said, pacing in a circle. “I can’t believe Ethan Valentine hasn’t dropped out of the race after his wife was accused of murder! Can you imagine?”

  “It does seem a little uncaring,” Lisa said.

  “He’s a cad.”

  “Would you like some breakfast?”

  “Yes, yes, breakfast. A bagel and egg sandwich. And coffee. I need to get out there and press the flesh. Make sure people remember to vote,” Penny said, circling the room again.

  “I can’t imagine anyone voting for Valentine after last night,” Lisa said.

  Penny stopped. “I hope not. But we mustn’t let ourselves get complacent.” She resumed pacing.

  “I’ll get your breakfast, Mom. Why don’t you have a seat, make yourself comfortable?”

  When she came back with the bagel and egg sandwich and a vanilla latte, Lisa found her mother surrounded by a small circle of customers.

  “What is your primary issue with town leadership?” Penny said. “What do you want for the future of Moss Creek?”

  “My street has potholes, and no matter how many times I call, nobody will come out and fix them,” a woman said.

  “Raccoons keep getting into my trash cans,” someone else said.

  “I need a job,” a third person said.

  “Excuse me, everyone, hot plate here,” Lisa said. She put Penny’s breakfast on the table and turned to the crowd with a smile and an order pad. “What can I get everyone for breakfast?”

  Lisa took the orders and went back to the kitchen. When she returned with a tray of food and drinks, she found the circle around Penny had grown even larger, taking up most of the seating in the parlor. Lisa doled out her goods and took another round of orders.

  When she came back with another tray of orders, the crowd had swelled again. Penny’s face was lit with an internal fire of excitement and energy as she asked questions and interacted with her impromptu town-hall meeting. Lisa caught her mother’s eye and smiled.

  After an hour, Penny was still going strong. The crowd continued to swell, with individuals staying a little while and then peeling off while others arrived. Lisa sold out of bagels and had to throw extra trays of muffins in the oven to keep up with demand.

  Lisa ducked into the kitchen and pulled out her phone to send a text to Mo.

  “Mom is holding impromptu town-hall meeting at café. You should come and pitch the spay and neuter clinic!”

  She hit send and crossed her fingers that he could come by. If everyone could hear the passion in his voice when he talked about animals and the proposed clinic, Mo could get the public on board with it. A mass of public support would be huge for getting funding, and the same people might even spread the word about the clinic to their friends and neighbors who had animals that needed to be brought in.

  Lisa put on a fresh pot of coffee and went to pull an espresso shot. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

  “Be right there,” Mo texted.

  Lisa squeaked in excitement. Mama Cat, sleeping on a chair, opened one eye at the noise. She flicked her ear and closed the eye again, determined to get back to her nap.

  A few minutes later, bringing another tray out to the crowd, Lisa heard Mo’s voice.

  “It breaks my heart every time I have to put an animal to sleep,” he said. “Sometimes it’s necessary. After a bad accident, or at the end of a serious illness. But all too often, it’s because the animal is just unwanted. With no home of its own and no one to care, another precious little life ends with a needle.”

  Mo brushed away tears. Several people in the audience sniffled or wiped at their own tears.

  “But there’s a simple way to avoid all that unnecessary suffering and death. If we spay and neuter the dogs and cats in Moss Creek, we can slow the yearly onslaught of homeless puppies and kittens. It won’t take a huge amount of money from the city, just enough for supplies and the temporary hire of a couple of additional vet techs, and I could get this off the ground,” Mo said.

  He blushed bright red when the crowd around him started to applaud. Penny added her applause to the crowd’s.

  “If I win this election, my first act as mayor will be to find a way to fund your spay and neuter clinic,” Penny announced.

  The clapping grew louder.

  “She’s got my vote,” someone murmured in the back near Lisa.

  “Mine too,” someone else said.

  Lisa served the food and drinks on her tray and sidled up next to Mo.

  “You were great,” she said, bumping him with her hip.

  “Thanks,” he whispered. “But can I go hide in the kitchen now?”

  “Of course.”

  *

  Penny held court in the café again Sunday, chatting up the after-church crowd. She repeated her pledge to fund Mo’s spay and neuter clinic, again to applause.

  Monday morning Penny had coffee and exchanged quick questions and answers with the busy working people who liked to start their week with a caffeine surge.

  Tuesday was Election Day. Penny stood in the front entrance of the café, handing out slips of paper printed with the locations and hours of the polling places.

  “Good morning! Don’t forget to vote,” she said over and over.

  The poll
s closed at seven. Penny, Lou, Olivia, Billy Jack, Mo, Toby, and Lisa gathered in the closed-for-the-day café to wait for the election results.

  “How long can it possibly take for them to count the votes and tell us who won?” Penny said, anxiously staring at the screen of Lisa’s laptop.

  “I don’t know, dear,” Lou said.

  “Should I make us some popcorn to go with the cocoa?” Lisa said.

  “Got any whiskey?” Billy Jack said.

  “No, sorry,” Lisa said.

  “Beer?” Billy Jack said.

  “This is a coffee shop, not a bar.”

  “Oh, this is taking forever,” Penny fretted.

  “Hit refresh,” Olivia advised.

  “I did,” Penny snapped.

  “Do it again,” Olivia said.

  “Fine, but it won’t help,” Penny said. She clicked refresh and let out a yelp. “The results are in!”

  Everyone pushed forward.

  “Well?”

  “What’s it say?”

  “Did you win?”

  Penny rose from her chair and raised her arms in the air.

  “We did it! You’re looking at the new mayor of Moss Creek, Arizona!”

  Olivia shrieked and threw her arms around her sister. When she let go, Lou took Penny in his arms and waltzed her around the room, bumping into chairs and sending Mama Cat scrambling out of the way. Billy Jack toasted her with Mo’s flask. Mo clapped, then went around the room, righting the chairs Penny and Lou had knocked over.

  “Way to go, Ms. Mayor!” Toby whooped.

  “Good job, Mom,” Lisa said.

  “Thank you, everybody,” Penny said when Lou stopped waltzing her all over. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “When do you take office?” Toby said.

  “Tomorrow, I think,” Penny said.

  “Ok, everyone!” Lisa said, clapping her hands. “Raise your mugs to toast our new mayor. Congratulations, Mom!”

  “Here, here!” they cried.

  “Now finish your cocoa and go home,” Lisa said. “Mom needs her rest if she’s going to start being mayor tomorrow.”

  *

  Ryan Regent showed up at the café the next morning. Lisa brought him a small coffee.

  “Would you care for a muffin this morning?” she said.

  “No. But I do have some questions for you,” Ryan said.

  “Sure. Questions about the muffins? Questions about the lunch special?” Lisa said.

  “Questions about the poker game.”

  “Oh.” Lisa frowned at him. “I’m a bit busy now, but…”

  “I think you’ll want to answer my questions,” Ryan said, pulling out a badge.

  Lisa studied the badge. “State police?”

  Ryan nodded.

  “So you’re not really from Bargain Box.”

  “Nope.”

  “And Moss Creek isn’t actually on the radar of the Bargain Box Corporation?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Lisa sat down across from him. “I don’t really know much about the poker game. I mean, you were there Friday night and heard what Fern said, right?”

  “I was. But I was also on the football field with you. And here for your little M&Ms game.”

  “Right. That. I’m sorry about that. But I didn’t actually suspect you,” Lisa said.

  “Suspect me? Of what?” Ryan said, putting his coffee down.

  “Dan’s murder. I did think it was someone who had been at the poker game, but I thought it was Ethan Valentine. I was trying to figure out motive,” Lisa said.

  Ryan laughed and rubbed his eyes. “Motive,” he said.

  “But you were there before the murder, so what were you investigating?” Lisa said.

  “Corruption.”

  “Corruption?”

  Ryan nodded. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  He got up to leave.

  “Wait a minute, you’re not going to tell me any more than that?” Lisa said.

  “Nope.” He walked out the door.

  Lisa heard yelling from outside. The door opened, letting her hear the words.

  “Corporate shill!” Olivia walked into the café, yelling over her shoulder.

  “He’s not, actually,” Lisa whispered to her aunt.

  “Oh no, don’t tell me you’ve switched sides,” Olivia said.

  “No, he’s not really from Bargain Box.”

  “Nonsense, I heard his dirty speech at the city council meeting,” Olivia said. “And if he told you any different, it’s some slimy ploy to get us to let down our guard.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” Lisa said. “Care for a muffin this morning?”

  Chapter 33

  “And then he flashed a badge at me,” Lisa said. She pulled into the parking lot at Moss Creek Guns and Ammo. Ruby Bartok’s old blue Ford pickup was the only vehicle in the lot. Lisa turned off the ignition.

  “A badge?” Toby said. “What kind?”

  “State police.”

  Recognition crossed Toby’s face and he nodded. “The corruption probe,” he said.

  “You knew about that?”

  Toby laughed. “Kind of. It was in some briefing somewhere. Do you have any idea how many briefings and bulletins I get?”

  “I guess I don’t,” Lisa said.

  “My job is, like, half-paperwork, half-driving around, and ten percent catching bad guys,” Toby said.

  “You know that adds up to more than a hundred percent, right?” Lisa said.

  Toby winked at her. “That’s because I give 110%.”

  “Your mom still hates him,” Lisa said.

  Toby laughed. “I guarantee that’s true. And finding out he was undercover wouldn’t help her opinion much either.”

  “So? Tell me about this corruption probe,” Lisa said, opening her car door.

  They got out and walked into the gun shop. Ruby looked up from her battered paperback and smiled at them.

  “The usual?” Ruby said.

  “The usual,” Toby confirmed.

  “Range is yours,” Ruby said after the exchange of paperwork and gear.

  “Thanks, Ruby,” Toby called as they went through the door to the range.

  She gave them a thumbs-up and went back to reading her book.

  On the range, Lisa tugged impatiently on Toby’s sleeve. “Well?” she said. “The probe?”

  Toby shrugged. “They sent a memo about undercover agents looking into corruption in local government agencies statewide. Not much info, just a mention that we should try not to hinder their investigations if we ran across them.”

  “Hmm. That’s not much to go on,” Lisa said. She squinted at the gun on the counter before her, loading it with care.

  “Ready to shoot?” Toby said.

  Lisa nodded. They put on their hearing protection and sent their paper targets downrange. Lisa held her gun in both hands and tried to adopt the correct stance. She lined up the sights, breathed, squeezed the trigger.

  When the brought the targets zooming back in, Lisa was pleased to see most of her shots had hit inside the silhouette, though none in the direct center. She showed the target to Toby, who nodded proudly.

  “Getting better, cuz,” he said.

  “Practice makes perfect,” she said.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Toby said, laughing. “But you’re doing alright. I’m glad you’re still coming with me to meditate from time to time.”

  “Meditate,” Lisa said with a grin. “Yep.”

  *

  A week later Olivia called Lisa in the early evening. “Turn on the news! You won’t believe it, but that dirty crook is finally getting his!”

  Lisa turned on her TV and switched channels to the local news. A picture of Ethan Valentine in handcuffs dominated the screen.

  “Whoa,” Lisa said. She turned up the volume.

  “…alleged corruption dating back at least ten years. Mr. Valentine is not the only member of the Valentine family currently f
acing legal trouble. His wife, Fern Valentine, is facing a murder change in the death of Valentine’s former assistant, Dan Weston. There’s no word yet on a trial date for either set of charges.”

  Lisa sank into a chair and watched the report. Her instinct about Ethan Valentine had been right; he had been using the poker game to accept bribes to fast-track zoning and other local matters in Moss Creek. According to the news, it had been going on for over a decade. Lisa shook her head. She’d thought that things in LA had been corrupt, but even an idyllic place like Moss Creek wasn’t immune to the lure of greed.

  The phone, lying on the coffee table next to the remote, squawked at Lisa. She picked it up.

  “Hello? Hello! Are you still there?!”

  “Sorry, Aunt Olivia,” Lisa said. “I thought you’d hung up.”

  “I guess you did,” Olivia sniffed. “Can you believe the news?”

  Lisa muted the TV. The talking heads bobbled around, looking serious as they silently informed the public of the news.

  “Billy Jack must be over the moon,” Lisa said.

  “Oh, I expect he is,” Olivia said.

  “You expect? Isn’t he there with you?”

  “No, we’ve parted ways.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t heard. Sorry,” Lisa said.

  She could hear the shrug in Olivia’s voice. “It’s fine. We weren’t right for each other. He’s far too intense in his politics.”

  “Well, I guess it’s for the best, then,” Lisa said.

  “It is. I’m a free spirit. I can’t be tied down to the constant grind of protest, and soak in the hot springs while planning the next rally. Do you know I haven’t had time to paint in weeks?” Olivia said.

  “Really? But you love painting.”

  “It’s my life,” Olivia agreed. “I had an idea for you and your young man.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’ve been considering the subject matter for my next series of paintings, and I thought I could do something about homeless animals,” Olivia said.

  “That sounds promising,” Lisa said.

  “You could even use some of it for your advertising campaign for the spay and neuter clinic,” Olivia said.