by Cindy Bell
Memories Can Be Deadly
A Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery
Cindy Bell
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
From the Author
About the Author
Also by Cindy Bell
Copyright © 2016 Cindy Bell
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and locations portrayed in this book and the names herein are fictitious. Any similarity to or identification with the locations, names, characters or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.
All trademarks and brands referred to in this book are for illustrative purposes only, are the property of their respective owners and not affiliated with this publication in any way. Any trademarks are being used without permission, and the publication of the trademark is not authorized by, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owner.
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Chapter 1
Samantha’s eyes widened as a bright blue bird landed on a branch right beside the bench she sat on. With the warm breeze, the clear sky, and the music of nature surrounding her, it was shaping up to be a lovely day at the park. She smiled and turned her attention back to her book. As soon as she started to read the bird began to tweet. At first she enjoyed the sound. It was quite melodic. But after a few seconds it grew louder, and louder, until it sounded more like a shriek. The ear-piercing bird continued its harassment. When she turned to look at the bird she saw a pillow in front of her. It took her a few moments to realize that she was in her bed and the pillow next to her was far more real than the bluebird ever was. However, the shrieking sound remained, and was even louder. She sat up in bed, her mind still fuzzy with sleep. The approaching siren cut right through her daze. Her eyes widened as she wondered what might have happened.
Samantha grabbed her robe from the side of her bed and headed for the window to take a look. As she wrapped her robe around her she spotted Owen. The nurse ran at full speed towards the community center. Her heart lurched as she put together that the sirens and Owen’s urgency meant someone from Sage Gardens was in trouble. Without a second thought she hurried out the door towards the community center. When Samantha pulled the door to the center open she almost ran into another resident, Reynold. She didn’t know him very well, but the sight of him caused her to panic. His skin was pale and he looked dazed.
“Reynold, are you okay? Where’s Owen?”
Reynold raised a hand and pointed towards the fireplace. She spotted Owen beside the fireplace hunched down towards the floor. She couldn’t see whatever he leaned over because the couch blocked her view. She stepped closer, almost too scared to ask what was wrong. As she peered past the couch she saw another resident of Sage Gardens, May, sprawled out on the floor. She looked away, but it was too late to avoid the sight of a fire poker in May’s chest. With a gulp, Samantha grabbed the side of the couch to steady herself.
“Is she alive, Owen?”
“No, Samantha.” He sighed as he stared down at her. “It’s too late.”
“We were supposed to meet for coffee,” Reynold rambled as he walked towards them. “I was supposed to meet her outside and then go for a coffee. But I saw the door open. When I walked in, I saw her on the floor. I tried to help her. I did.” He shivered. “I tried to help her. We were supposed to have coffee.” He stared blankly at Samantha.
“Samantha, can you just keep him calm for a few minutes, I need to try to keep the scene clear?” Owen asked.
“Reynold, come sit down over here.” Samantha touched his shoulder. When she did she felt how intensely he shuddered beneath his shirt. The collar of his shirt was soaked with sweat. “Let me get you some water.”
Once Reynold was settled Samantha walked over to the water cooler and drew him a full cup. When she turned back he was still in the exact same position she’d left him in.
He mumbled under his breath as she pressed the cup of water into his hand.
“Just try to take a deep breath. I know it’s hard, it’s a big shock, but it’s important that you breathe.”
“She’s dead, isn’t she? How can she be dead? I was supposed to meet her for coffee.”
“I know, I know, Reynold. Just breathe with me.” As she tried to focus on him, the door to the community center swung open. Samantha stood up and walked towards the door to block the entrance from any curious onlookers. Many people were familiar to her, but her mind was too in shock to place names to faces.
“It’s best if we keep the space clear for medics and police please.” After she ushered them out she turned back towards Reynold. However, something in the fireplace caught her eye. The flames were low, as if someone had just started the fire, but they were hot enough to burn a long coil of paper. Her first thought was that whoever killed May tossed that paper in the fire. It might be the only evidence available. She hurried towards the fireplace and without considering what might happen to her hand, reached right into the flames to grab the piece of paper.
As the sirens blared through the retirement village the noise threatened to wake many of its residents, including Walt, eleven minutes before his alarm was set to ring. He despised being off schedule, but once he was awake there was no chance of going back to sleep. However, this meant his entire day would be eleven minutes off. The thought bothered him. He got to his feet and peered outside. When he saw his friend, Eddy, walk past the window, he dressed quickly and tried to catch up with him outside. As he passed a group of residents he heard some chatter.
“Someone is dead in the community center.”
“Maybe it was natural causes.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“What’s going on?” Walt caught up to Eddy, who continued to head straight towards the community center.
“I’m not sure yet, but it’s something bad. That’s a fire engine, an ambulance, and a few police cars headed this way. It’s no false alarm.”
“It doesn’t look good.”
“I thought I saw Samantha go inside.” Eddy looked back towards the community center.
“We’d better check it out.”
“Have you seen Jo?”
“No.” Walt frowned. “I haven’t seen her for a few days, actually. Do you think she might be involved?”
“I hope not. Let’s get in there before the police kick us out.” Eddy opened the door to the community center, just as a few other residents tried to walk through it. He ducked out of the way to allow them past. Walt stepped in first and gasped at the sight of May on the floor.
“We were supposed to meet for coffee.” The man seated a few feet away stared at Walt. Walt recognized him as Reynold, a resident who had recently moved in.
“Samantha!” Eddy’s voice carried through the open space of the community room. “Get your hands out of that fire!�
�
Walt spun around in time to see Eddy grab Samantha’s elbow and pull her back from the fire.
“Stop it, Eddy!” She shook free of his grasp and stomped on something on the floor. Walt walked towards them as tiny pieces of ash fluttered in multiple directions.
“What is that? A newspaper article?” Walt crouched down to look at it. Most of it was burned beyond recognition, but the top of the paper was still readable. Samantha pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of what remained.
“Everyone clear the room please, everyone clear the room!” Paramedics, followed by several police officers burst into the community center. Eddy walked up to one of them.
“That newspaper was in the fireplace. It’s almost gone. I think it might pertain to the case.”
“Thanks Eddy.” The officer nodded respectfully to him. “If you hear anything about the case just let us know. But right now, we need everyone out.”
“I understand.” Eddy nodded in return and herded Walt and Samantha towards the door.
Samantha looked over at Reynold who still sat in the same chair. His skin had gone from pale to gray. It looked as if he’d aged twenty years while he was sitting there. Her stomach twisted with anxiety at the thought of what might have happened that morning while she was still sound asleep, enjoying the company of a bluebird.
Chapter 2
Eddy, Samantha and Walt stepped outside and into a crowd of onlookers who formed a semicircle around the community center. Owen stood a few feet away deep in conversation with a paramedic. When the paramedic walked away Owen’s shoulders slumped.
“I’m going to go talk to him.” Samantha broke away from Walt and Eddy as they threw theories back and forth about what might have happened and who might have been involved.
“A robbery?” Walt frowned.
“Not likely. If they wanted to rob May, why wait until she was in the community center?”
“Then it must be murder.”
“It’s hard to dispute that with the weapon of choice and the way it was positioned. There’s no way she could have impaled herself that way,” Eddy said.
“What about Reynold? He might be the only witness.”
“Not a very good one. With the shock he’s in I’d be surprised if he remembered his own name. He must have shown up not long after the murderer took off though.”
Walt’s shoulders raised up close to his ears as he shivered. “And they may very well still be here, watching.”
“You may be right.” Eddy surveyed the crowd that gathered close. Did the murderer want to observe the chaos that he or she had created?
Samantha walked up to Owen as he walked away from the paramedic.
“Owen, are you okay?”
Owen was a young man, in his twenties, who was studying to be a doctor. He worked as an on-site nurse for the residents who needed a little extra daily assistance.
“Maybe if I got there a bit sooner, I could have saved her.” His tone reflected exactly who he was. His only desire was to help, and in this case he hadn’t been able to do that.
“I’m sure you did everything you could, Owen.” She patted his shoulder.
“Poor May. I just saw her yesterday.”
“Oh yes, I suggested that she see you,” Samantha said. “She said that she’d been having some heart palpitations and was concerned. Was she sick?”
“No, I don’t think so. From what I could tell it was anxiety. I tried to get her to talk to me about what might be bothering her, but she ignored me and said she had to leave. Maybe if I had insisted, or sent her to her doctor, or something, anything, I could have prevented this.” He turned his head away and drew a ragged breath.
“I don’t think so, Owen,” Eddy walked up to them. “There’s nothing you could have done.”
“Yes,” Walt agreed. “No one is to blame but the killer, Owen.”
“You did everything you could, Owen,” Samantha said.
“Thanks Samantha.” He looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. “I should go. I know the office staff will be arriving soon. You three, be careful, okay? No wandering around alone until we figure out what happened here.”
“Absolutely.” Samantha nodded. Owen headed for the office.
“Speaking of alone.” Eddy tilted his head towards the villas just as Jo began to cross the street.
“Jo!” Samantha waved to her to get her attention.
“What’s all the commotion?” Jo looked between her three friends as she paused in front of them.
Samantha reached out and took her hand. “I’m afraid May has been killed.”
“May? Are you sure?” Jo’s face grew pale.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Samantha said. “I saw her myself.”
“How terrible.” Jo clutched her elbows and looked towards the community center. “How?”
“With a fire poker.” Samantha sighed. “Through her chest.”
“Sam, the police are going to want to question you since you were there before they arrived. I’ll stay with you, all right?” Eddy rubbed her shoulder. “This will all be over soon.”
“I’m going to head back to my villa. Let me know if you guys find out anything new.” Jo waved to them then started to walk away.
“I’ll walk with you.” Walt fell into step beside her.
“Thanks Walt.” She smiled at him. When he locked eyes with her, he didn’t smile back. Jo stared at him for a moment, then glanced away. Samantha noticed, but her attention was drawn to the officer that summoned her over. Eddy remained right beside her as they walked up. After she supplied her name, the officer looked between her and Eddy.
“You were both here when Owen found the victim?”
“No.” Samantha shook her head. “Eddy wasn’t with me. I arrived shortly after Owen, and Reynold was here of course.”
“Can you please give me a thorough description of what you saw when you walked through the door?”
“Sure.” Samantha relayed the scene she had walked in on. She left out the part about snapping a photograph of the newspaper article, but detailed noticing it and pulling it out. “I thought it was unusual as there isn’t usually a fire in the fireplace unless there is an event going on and it is very cold, which is very rare around here. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the fire lit before. I can only guess that someone quickly lit it for the purpose of burning that piece of paper. Maybe they even lit the paper and then threw it into the fireplace which started a small fire.”
“It’s a good thing you pulled that scrap of paper out, we’ve bagged it as evidence. If you hadn’t seen it, it would have been ash by the time we arrived.”
“I just wanted to help. May was a friend of mine, we were in the same book club. I don’t know how someone could have done something like this to her.” She gazed down at her slippers. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“You say you can’t think of anyone that would hurt her. Are you sure about that? Had you noticed anyone unusual around her? Maybe a stranger that took an interest or someone that had an argument with her?”
“No, not at all. Around here it’s easy to spot a stranger. Everyone knows everyone. I hadn’t seen any unfamiliar faces lately. In fact, if anything, things have seemed rather calm.”
“What about any love interests? Were Reynold and her dating?”
“May and Reynold? No, I don’t think so. They’d been spending a lot of time together, but I think they were just friends.”
“Are you sure about that?” He made a note on his notepad.
“I did notice that they got to be close friends pretty fast. In fact, May didn’t come to book club a few times to meet up with Reynold. But she always told me they were just friends.”
“Thank you. If you think of anything that might help, please feel free to contact me.” He held out a card to her. Samantha took it and tucked it into her pocket. As the officer walked away Eddy steered her back towards the villas.
“Are you doing okay?”
“I just can’t figure out why this would happen to her.” Samantha frowned.
“Let’s go back to your villa. We’ll try to sort it all out.”
“Yes, okay. Did you notice how short Walt was with Jo?”
“Walt? No I didn’t. He’s not usually like that with Jo.”
“I know. It was strange.”
“Don’t let it bother you. I’m sure whatever it is they will work it out.”
Samantha nodded, but her concern about it just joined the swirl of other worrying thoughts that occupied her mind.
Chapter 3
Jo noticed how each of Walt’s steps were evenly paced, not too wide, not too short. Did he think about it? Did he time it? Or was he naturally so evenly paced?
“So, what’s going on, Walt? I know you’ve got something on your mind.” She looked towards a group of people that headed in the direction of the community center.
“I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“My phone is having some problems.”
“That’s not true.”
“How do you know?” She glanced over at him.
“I know. So why are you not being honest with me?” He frowned. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends.” She paused and turned to look at him. “Don’t ever think that we’re not, Walt.”
“Where have you been?” Walt stared at her even as she glanced away.
“I’m sorry?”
“You haven’t been around for the past few days.” Walt stepped in front of her before she could walk past him.
“Now you’re acting like Eddy.” She laughed and lifted her shoulders in a mild shrug. “I needed some time to myself.”
“Now you’re lying again.” Walt folded his arms over his chest very carefully so as not to wrinkle his shirt. “Do you really think that I can’t tell when you’re lying to me?”
“I really think that you can tell when I would prefer it if you would mind your own business.” Jo raised a thin, black eyebrow and stared back at him with just as much authority.
