Cozy Creek

by K M Morgan

  Daisy winced. “Talk about terrifying.”

  “I know. Sometimes, timing really is everything,” Crumple said. “Thanks to the fire department and the coroner, we know the truth.”

  “Have you opened up a homicide investigation?”

  Crumple nodded. “That’s why you’re here. I’d like your help with this case. What do you say?”

  “I’ll do everything I can to catch Charlotte’s killer.”

  “I figured that would be your response.”

  “Unfortunately, we have the odds stacked against us with this one. The killer has a significant head start on us.”

  “It’s only a day.”

  “Detective, a lot can happen in twenty-four hours. Honestly, all you have to do is look at Charlotte Canfield to see that things can drastically change in the span of a few seconds.”

  “I can’t argue with that.”

  “Besides, you’re the one who is always telling me that the first forty-eight hours after a murder are the most crucial. That if the killer isn’t found during that time frame, the chances of the case going cold increase exponentially.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Which means that we have a little over twenty-four hours before the odds get significantly worse for us.”

  “You don’t have to remind me of the tough position that we’re in.”

  Daisy got a faraway look in her eyes. “There’s a chance that the killer might have left town.”

  “Let’s hope that’s not the case.”

  “Speaking of the killer, do you have any leads? And did the fire investigator find anything at the house that would qualify as a clue?”

  “At the current time, I don’t have a single clue.”

  “How about leads? Did the coroner find any strange fingerprints on Charlotte’s body? Or around her neck?”

  Crumple shook his head.

  “I wonder if the killer was wearing gloves when they strangled her,” Daisy said.

  “They might have also used a wire. Or a piece of rope.”

  “Were either of those found at the scene?”

  “No.”

  “That’s discouraging. Do you have anything encouraging to share?”

  “I’ve been doing some research into Charlotte’s life to see who might have had a reason to want her dead.”

  “Internet research is great and all, but I have a hunch that there’s a much easier way to get that information.”

  “How?”

  “Grab your keys. There’s someone we need to talk to,” Daisy said.

  Chapter Six

  Daisy and Crumple headed over to Granny Annie’s retirement villa. Meanwhile, a group of police deputies canvassed Charlotte Canfield’s neighborhood. They interviewed as many residents of her street as they could. They were hoping to dig up a lead. Had anyone seen someone suspicious on the morning of the fire? Did any of Charlotte’s neighbors have security cameras installed that might have recorded some useful footage?

  Ultimately, the answer to both of those questions was no. What a shame. Security footage could have broken this case wide open. Considering how the killer already had a twenty-four hour jump on Daisy and Crumple, any information that could close the gap was sought after.

  Just as smoking guns were hard to come by, so were useful leads of any kind. With the canvassing of the neighborhood going so poorly, this upcoming conversation with Annie took on even greater importance.

  Before Daisy and Crumple could get to their questions, they had to break the news to Annie about the nature of Charlotte’s true cause of death.

  Daisy knew that her friend would be heartbroken. She fully expected Annie to break into tears. Annie surprised her by getting outraged. A fire came to Annie’s eyes.

  “You need to find out who did this, and you have to make them pay,” Annie said.

  “That’s the plan,” Crumple said.

  “Good. They can’t be allowed to get away with this,” Annie said. “I only had one goddaughter, and some scumbag took her away from me.”

  “Annie, you have every right to be upset—” Daisy started to say.

  “I’m not just upset. I’m furious,” Anne said.

  “With good reason. At the same time, we have some questions to ask you,” Daisy replied.

  “You know, I had my suspicions that this wasn’t just some accident.”

  “Really?”

  Annie nodded. “I didn’t say anything yesterday, but I was thinking it. And it turns out that my instincts were right.”

  “They certainly were. What made you so confident that this wasn’t an accident?”

  “Charlotte was the kind of person who checked everything twice. She wouldn’t just leave a stove on, or a candle burning. Honestly, I don’t think she even owned a single candle. And she barely even turned her stove on. Most nights, she popped a meal in the microwave. Or she ordered food to be delivered.”

  “Those are all good points.”

  “Yet, in the end, none of that matters. She isn’t gone because of some oversight on her end. She’s dead because some maniac cut her life short. Whoever they are, I hope they end up rotting in jail.”

  “First, we need to apprehend them. In order to do that, we’d like your help,” Daisy said.

  “You know I’ll do anything to help you,” Annie said.

  “I’m so happy to hear you say that.”

  “Although, I’m not sure how much help I can give you. I’m a baker, not an investigator. And I’m a retired baker at that.”

  “Annie, you might have more information than you realize.”

  “How so?”

  “We want to know all of the information that we can get about Charlotte’s life. Especially in terms of any problems that she might have been having. Can you think of anyone who might have had a reason to want her dead?”

  It didn’t take Annie long to reply. “I can think of a few.”

  “Who are they?”

  “To start, there’s Robert Stinson.”

  “Why him?”

  “Robert and Charlotte were dating. Until recently, that is.”

  “They broke up.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Pretty recently.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “Charlotte discovered that Robert was cheating on her.”

  “No wonder she broke up with him.”

  “You get it. And I get it. But Robert believed that Charlotte should give him another chance. He kept trying to win her back.”

  “Did he have any luck?”

  Annie shook her head. “Nope.”

  “There’s a motive for you.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if Robert was behind this.”

  Crumple stepped in. “We will definitely pay him a visit.”

  “Is there anyone else we should speak with?” Daisy asked.

  Annie nodded. “Krystal Maddox.”

  “Why her?” Daisy asked.

  “She was the woman that Robert was sleeping with,” Annie said.

  “Do you know if Krystal and Robert are still hooking up?”

  “I have no clue.”

  “We’ll find out.”

  “I’ll be interested to hear your findings.”

  “Are Krystal and Robert the only people you can think of? Or is there someone else we should speak with?”

  “Charlotte was also having trouble with someone at work. His name is Mitchell Gregory.”

  “Why were they at odds?”

  “Charlotte and Mitchell were both up for a big promotion.”

  “Let me guess. Charlotte got it?” Daisy said.

  Annie nodded.

  “Let’s see what Mitchell has to say for himself,” Daisy replied.

  “I hope that helps,” Annie said.

  “It really does,” Daisy said. “Thank you.”

  Crumple turned to Daisy. “All right. Let’s get to work.”

  Chapter Seven

  Charlotte’s ex-boyfriend, Robert
Stinson, was the logical person to speak with first. Crumple and Daisy booked it over to Mr. Stinson’s ranch-style home on McKinley Drive.

  They knocked on Stinson’s beige front door a few times, but they didn’t get an answer. Daisy then walked over to Stinson’s living room window. As she peered inside, she didn’t see any sign of Robert.

  “Let’s head around back,” Crumple said.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t have any better luck with Stinson’s back door. It appeared that the suspect wasn’t home.

  Crumple and Daisy returned to the detective’s car. They both did some searches on the internet. Crumple was able to track down Stinson’s workplace. He wrote down the phone number of Cozy Creek Sporting Goods and then gave the place a call.

  Luckily, Crumple was able to get Stinson’s boss on the phone without much trouble. Mentioning that he was a police detective opened a lot of doors for Crumple.

  Even so, the conversation with Stinson’s boss didn’t go quite as planned.

  “He’s not here,” Eric Mortimer said.

  “Really?” Crumple replied.

  “He called in sick today.”

  “Interesting.”

  When Crumple got off the phone, he bit the corner of his lip. “If he’s sick then why doesn’t he appear to be at home?”

  “Sounds like someone lied to their boss,” Daisy said.

  “You can say that again. The question is, why?”

  “I don’t have an answer for that one. All I know is that he isn’t here.”

  “We can’t take any chances. We need to find him.” Crumple grabbed his police radio. “I’m going to put out an all-points-bulletin on Stinson.”

  “That’s a good call.”

  “I’m also going to assign a deputy to drive over here. If Stinson does return home today, I want that deputy to detain him for questioning.”

  “That’s smart.”

  ***

  After putting out the all-points-bulletin and assigning the deputy to stake out in front of Mr. Stinson’s place, Crumple and Daisy headed out. There were other suspects to question. They certainly couldn’t wait around all day for Stinson to be spotted. Especially since he might have had nothing to do with the fire.

  The investigators set their sights on Krystal Maddox next. After performing a brief internet search, they were able to discover that Krystal worked at a retail boutique on Olive Street. They also dug up her home address. Before heading over to the boutique, Crumple called the location first to see if she was at work. In order to not arouse suspicion, Crumple pretended that he was just a regular customer on the phone. It turned out that Krystal was at work.

  In Daisy’s experience, questioning a suspect at their job was much preferable to speaking with them at their home. Unless they were a complete maniac, it was rare for them to have an outburst in public. There was just too big of a risk associated with it. What if their boss saw them losing their cool?

  Conversely, when a suspect was interviewed at their home, they could get downright belligerent. A number of suspects had slammed their door in Daisy’s face. Some had refused to speak with her at all. Working on a case was frustrating enough without that happening.

  When Daisy and Crumple arrived at the retail boutique, they tried to speak with Krystal privately. The tall blond voluptuous clerk put up some resistance. That changed when Crumple pulled out his police badge. Suddenly, Krystal became far more cooperative.

  Even though Krystal followed Daisy and Crumple outside, the suspect looked highly confused.

  “I don’t understand. Why would a police detective want to speak with me?” Krystal asked.

  “I have some questions for you,” Crumple said.

  “About what?”

  “Charlotte Canfield.”

  “Detective, I think you’re talking to the wrong person.”

  “I can assure you, I’m not.”

  “I’ve never spoken to Charlotte in my life.”

  “Maybe not, but I know you’re intimately familiar with her ex-boyfriend.”

  “I don’t know who told you that.”

  “It doesn’t matter. The important part is that you were sleeping with Charlotte’s boyfriend. And that caused them to break up.”

  Krystal threw out her arms. “I’m sorry. Why would the police care about any of that?”

  “Haven’t you heard the news?” Crumple asked.

  Krystal squinted. “What are you talking about?”

  “Charlotte is dead.”

  Krystal’s jaw dropped. “No way.”

  “That’s not all. She was murdered.”

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “Is this the first you’ve heard about her death?”

  Krystal nodded. “It’s all news to me. What a shock. Do you have any idea who was behind this?”

  “We’re working on that,” Crumple said. “Which brings us to why we’re here.”

  “Hold on a second,” Krystal said. “What is the real meaning of this conversation?”

  “I’m getting to that,” Crumple said. “I need to ask you some questions. I expect you to answer me honestly. Keep in mind that it is a crime to lie to a police detective.”

  Krystal shrugged. “Why would I lie to you?”

  “Plenty of suspects have done that over the years.”

  “Hold on a second. Did you just say suspects?”

  Crumple nodded. “I sure did.”

  “You’re definitely talking to the wrong person. I didn’t even know that Charlotte was dead until you just told me.”

  “We’ll be the judge of that.”

  “I’m serious. Instead of wasting your time, you should just listen to me.”

  “That’s what all the suspects say.”

  “Please stop calling me a suspect.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s not accurate.”

  “Maybe according to you, but in my experience, someone in your position has quite the motive for committing murder.”

  “That’s not true. I didn’t hate Charlotte.”

  “I’d like to believe you.”

  “No one is stopping you.”

  “Ms. Maddox, I don’t make a habit of taking a suspect’s words at face value.”

  “If you’re looking for someone who had a reason to want Charlotte dead, you should really be talking to Robert right now.”

  “Wow. That didn’t take you very long to throw your lover under the bus.”

  “Robert isn’t my lover.”

  “Since when?”

  “We stopped sleeping together weeks ago.”

  “No wonder you’re so quick to badmouth him.”

  “No, I’m just trying to help you out. To steer you in the right direction.”

  “How can you be sure it’s the right direction? Do you know something that I don’t?”

  “All I know is that I didn’t have anything to do with this. I can’t say the same about Robert. He really wanted to win Charlotte back, but she had zero interest in giving him another shot.”

  “Ms. Maddox, don’t worry. We will definitely be speaking with Robert.”

  “Good,” Krystal said. “You should go do that now.”

  Crumple shook his head. “Not so fast. We’re not done with you.”

  “I already told you, I had nothing to do with Charlotte’s death,” Krystal said. “Robert, on the other hand—”

  “Krystal, stop trying to steer the conversation away from yourself. We have a number of questions to ask you, and we’re not leaving until we get answers.”

  “All right. Fine. What do you want to know?”

  “Judging by how eager you are to point the finger of blame at Robert, I take it that you aren’t handling your split up very well.”

  “That’s not true. I was fine with us calling things off.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Crumple stared Krystal down. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Don’t get me
wrong. The thing that we had was nice, but it was also just a fling. Nothing more,” Krystal said.

  Crumple folded his arms. “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m serious. There were no strings attached. And there were definitely no emotions attached.”

  “That’s an interesting story. Do you have any way of confirming it?”

  Krystal shrugged. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Tell us where you were yesterday morning.”

  “At home.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Getting ready for work.”

  “Was anyone with you?”

  “I already told you I had nothing to do with this.”

  “Answer the question,” Crumple demanded.

  “I was alone.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “It doesn’t prove anything.”

  “It proves that you have no verifiable alibi for the time of the murder.”

  “True. But I’m not a killer. End of story,” Krystal said.

  Chapter Eight

  Krystal acted like that was the end of the conversation, but Crumple and Daisy had more questions for her. Unfortunately, Krystal’s answers weren’t terribly enlightening. Rather than continuing to force the issue, the investigators elected to move on.

  They got in the car and headed to The Cozy Creek Wholesale Warehouse to speak with Mitchell Gregory. The Warehouse was a typical big box store. Where the lines were long and self-checkout registers didn’t exist. Where items were all sold in bulk. Where customers regularly elbowed each other out of the way to get free samples. Or, at least that seemed to be the case.

  Daisy wasn’t a huge fan of The Warehouse. She didn’t love big crowds. Nor did she have the need for a hundred pack of toilet paper or twenty tubes of toothpaste. She also didn’t have much interest in buying a two-gallon tub of mayonnaise.

  Daisy’s personal feelings aside, she wasn’t there to go shopping. Crumple and Daisy had a job to do. They started things off by having a conversation with the general manager of the store. His answers were quite insightful. Once they finished speaking with the head honcho, Daisy and Crumple pulled Mitchell aside.

  Mr. Gregory was a muscular man in his early fifties. He appeared to be wearing a polo shirt that was one size too small to show off his muscles. Ironically, despite the effort that he put into looking his best, what Daisy immediately noticed about him was that he was wearing a hairpiece.