Snowflake Bay Cozy Mysteries Boxset 1

by C Farren

  “How can you expect me to...”

  The world started to spin. When Jordan started screaming her name everything turned to black.

  Chapter 23

  “I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

  “My husband is in jail.”

  “Then you need me more than ever before.”

  “Please leave me alone. My daughter is in hospital.”

  “And I’m her doctor.”

  Wren opened her eyes, wondering why she was in hospital. The last thing she remembered was passing out in the Metropolitan.

  “What’s your boyfriend doing here?” Wren mumbled.

  Her head throbbed a little, though not as bad as it had before, and she felt slightly high. The hospital lights were too bright. It was like the sun was shining directly on her face.

  “You’re going to be okay,” said her mom. Anthony was standing by her in his doctor’s whites, looking awkward. “They thought you had a blood clot at first but it was just concussion.” She smiled and took hold of Wren’s hand. She felt instantly at ease. “What happened?”

  “Veronica Van Clark happened,” said Wren, seething. “I should press charges against that woman.”

  She briefly explained what had happened, during which Anthony made a swift exit. Wren felt a little sorry for him. He probably felt like the proverbial third wheel.

  “She could have killed you!” Dot raged.

  “I’ll be fine,” Wren insisted. “Don’t start a feud or something. The woman’s crazy.”

  “I’ll start a feud with anyone who messes with my family.”

  Wren believed her. Dot was like a mother lion when someone disrespected someone she loved. Bullies and ex-boyfriends had often found themselves at the end of one of Dot’s tongue-lashings.

  “Do you remember when I was ten and Amanda Fury pushed me off my bike?” Wren asked.

  Dot shrugged. “My memory is not what it used to be.”

  “Someone stole her bike and ran over it in their car and then threw it through her window. Was that you?”

  “Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies.”

  Wren didn’t know whether to be impressed or horrified. She settled on mildly pleased. A part of her was secretly glad. Her mother was not someone to be messed with.

  “I went to see your father this morning,” said Dot. She tried tucking in the covers on the hospital bed but Wren slapped her hand. “He wouldn’t talk to me, but I could tell he was nervous. He really doesn’t like prison.”

  “Nobody likes prison,” said Wren.

  Her mother sighed. “I don’t understand why he would gamble like this. Is he bored with our marriage? Does he know about me and Anthony and wanted to get revenge? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Had he ever had a gambling problem before?”

  “We went to a few casinos every now and then. We’ve been to Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City. Was he an addict all this time and I just never noticed?”

  “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. I think it’s just something that happens.”

  But knowing his wife is cheating on him probably doesn’t help.

  “I’ve broken up with Anthony,” Dot admitted.

  “Good,” said Wren. “I know he made you happy but...”

  “Yes. He made me happy, but I love your father. The doctor needed to go. I need to spend all my energy on Wick now. I want our marriage to work.”

  It gladdened her heart to know her mother was putting her father first. She wasn’t sure he deserved it, what with his recent crime spree, but if her parents could still love each other after spending ten years in jail, then they could survive this.

  But what if her dad went back to jail?

  She started to feel dizzy again, and soon drifted off to sleep. She dreamed about Jordan and the hatred he’d shown towards Veronica. She dreamed that he tried to murder her.

  Wren awoke some time later. She tried sitting up in bed, only to find a tray with dinner on it. It was some type of meat pie with peas and a small pot of raspberry Jell-O. It looked quite nice. She tried to eat some but felt sick with every bite.

  “They left you a chocolate chip cookie, but I ate it,” a voice said.

  It was Maureen from the unemployment office. She was sitting in a chair next to her bed reading a gossip magazine. There was a multi-colored knitted quilt on her lap. She looked like she was about to settle in to bed.

  “What are you doing here?” Wren asked.

  “I was visiting a friend after she had her toe removed,” said Maureen, making Wren feel even sicker. “I wanted to pop by and see you. You look like you’ve been in a fight with a supervillain.”

  “I feel like I’ve been in a fight with a supervillain.”

  Trust Maureen to tell her how she really looked.

  “Your mother tells me you’re investigating Garrett Knowles and his untimely demise.” Maureen sneaked a half-eaten cookie into her mouth, chewed and swallowed quickly. “You should’ve come to me. I know all the local gossip.”

  “I’ve discovered some secrets during this investigation that nobody knows. I don’t think you’d be any help.”

  Maureen grinned and pulled a small black purse from under the quilt. She took out a little black notepad and a black pen.

  “I notice things,” said Maureen. She opened the notepad. “People avoid me because I’m odd. People treat me like I’m not there. They talk over me.”

  “That’s not nice,” said Wren. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m on the spectrum, did you know that?”

  Wren didn’t know that, though it explained a lot. Maureen wasn’t rude; she was just different.

  “You listen to people talk and you write it down?” Wren asked, interested. “You might be able to help me.”

  “I don’t know much about this case. Some of the people involved are boring. This happened a month ago. I was in the park, eating breadcrumbs in front of the birds, when I overheard Katie Knowles talking on her cell phone. She was talking to some friend with a stupid name about how she’d bought life insurance for her husband worth one million dollars. She joked about how unfortunate it would be if Garrett were to die and she were to get all his money.”

  “That’s very interesting. Why would she do that? They’re already rich.”

  Maureen shook her head. “No, they’re not. I overheard another conversation dating back six months.” She searched through her thick notepad for the right page and smiled. “Garrett and Katie were arguing about her latest plastic surgery appointment. He said enough was enough and she looked perfectly fine. She said she could look so much better. He said they couldn’t afford it. He said she’d spent all their money on facelifts and useless crap and bad investments and they had to be careful. She asked if they were in financial trouble. He said they were. She didn’t like that.”

  Maybe this was about money after all. What if Katie had killed her husband to get his life insurance and not the millions he had inherited from his father?

  “The death was messy,” said Wren. “Anything could have gone wrong. I don’t think Katie would be that careless and kill him like that. She’d hire someone or make it look like suicide.”

  “You have to put yourself in the mind of the killer,” said Maureen. “You have to think like a killer.”

  “This isn’t Silence of the Lambs. I wouldn’t go that far.”

  Maureen closed her book. “That’s all I have for this case. You can thank me by buying me take out or a Netflix subscription. Goodbye.”

  Before Wren even had a chance to say anything Maureen had left. She couldn’t help but laugh. The woman really was amazing. It was a pity she didn’t have any dirt on anyone else, but Wren was starting to get the bigger picture now. As much as she hated to admit it, she was now sure Garrett was killed by a member of his own family.

  Chapter 24

  The couch felt like fluffy clouds under her backside. The hospital bed had been hard as a board and she still couldn�
�t get the smell of cabbage out of her nostrils. Why did hospitals smell of cabbage?

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t flit you home,” said Fiona. “I really did try.”

  “It’s okay,” said Wren. The angel sounded very disappointed in herself. “I liked the cab journey home. It gave me time to think.”

  “The scenery around here is very lovely.”

  She hadn’t noticed. The murder was constant and foremost on her mind now. She knew she had almost solved it. It was either Katie or Jordan, but without any proof there was nothing she could do.

  “How do you feel?” Fiona asked, sitting down beside her. The two cats were asleep on the armchair, ignorant of their servant’s return. “You still look woozy.”

  “I’m actually fine,” Wren admitted. “The night in the hospital did me wonders. I have a little headache but nothing to worry about.”

  She suddenly remembered Sheriff Fisher and her suspicion that he might be Jordan’s father, and Aarna’s claim that Garrett’s death her was her own fault, and all her theories went out the window. Maybe she wasn’t as close to finding the killer after all.

  “It’s all so hopeless,” she wailed.

  “It’s not that bad,” said Fiona. “The brick didn’t do any damage.”

  Wren felt her head. It was still very sore. “I meant the murder. I was sure I was about to figure out who did it, but I forgot some things, and now I’m just as confused as ever.”

  “Maybe you should leave this to the police for now, until you feel better.”

  “Dad is counting on me.”

  “He’s not even being charged with Garrett’s murder. I know we’ve had...I suppose you could call it fun, but it’s over. You’re injured. Leave it be.”

  Maybe Fiona was right. This had nothing to do with her. The sheriff didn’t think her father killed Garrett, but as far as she was aware, they weren’t even looking for another suspect. Should she just give it up?

  There was a twinge of pain in her head. It was like someone had stuck a knitting needle between her ears.

  “Are you still in pain?” Fiona asked.

  “A little,” Wren lied.

  Fiona nodded and placed her hands on Wren’s head. She laughed, wondering what was going on, but there was such an intense look of concentration on the angel’s face that she let her be. Something wondrous was happening, she could feel it.

  The pain shifted. It didn’t leave entirely, but it was a mere ache now, something she could live with.

  “What did you do?” Wren asked.

  “I healed you,” said Fiona proudly. “At least I think I did. This is the first time I’ve done something like this, and like I’ve said before, I’m only a trainee, so I don’t have much power, but I think I healed you.”

  “You did. A bit.”

  “Oh.”

  Wren smiled and pulled the angel into a hug.

  “You made me feel better,” said Wren, grinning uncontrollably. “You didn’t get rid of the pain entirely, but you did it. You really healed me.”

  “Are you sure?” Fiona asked, her confidence still wavering. “You aren’t just humoring me or anything are you?”

  “What you did was amazing. Thank you so much.”

  Fiona started to cry, and Wren pulled her in for another hug. She needed it. They both needed it.

  “That was really the first time you tried to heal someone?” Wren asked.

  The angel wiped at her eyes. “Juniper and Brock told me it was very difficult to do, even for experienced angels, but I had to do something. I don’t like seeing people in pain. It’s the nurse in me.”

  “So, you used to be a nurse. That explains a lot.”

  “I shouldn’t have told you that. Forget I said anything.”

  The cats were sitting up, staring at Fiona in what Wren could only describe as abject wonder. Gracie had never done anything like that before. It was as if she’d seen something that awed her. Could a cat even understand what had happened, or had they just picked up on the energy in the room?

  There was a copy of The Snowflake Bay Herald on the coffee table. The front page caught her eye. She grabbed the paper and started to read.

  “Have you seen this?” Wren demanded.

  Fiona nodded. “I brought the paper in this morning. I didn’t look at it. I had to come and fetch you from the hospital.”

  The article said her father had confessed to murder. He had been officially charged with killing Garrett.

  Chapter 25

  “What the hell are you playing at?” Wren asked, enraged.

  She’s stormed over to the police station in such a fury that she ignored every person she passed. Even Fiona’s voice of reason, begging her to calm down, went through one ear and out the other. All she could focus on was her father and how she was going to scream at the sheriff for betraying them.

  The sheriff wasn’t cowed by her ordeal. “Let me tell you and...”

  “You said you didn’t think he did it!” Wren shouted. The other deputies were looking at the floor, probably wishing they were anywhere but here. Keegan was standing by his father, trying to save face, but he too looked embarrassed. “You said that...”

  “He told me he wanted to talk, and he confessed,” said the sheriff. “I had to charge him with murder.”

  Wren wasn’t having any of this. “He’d never confess. He didn’t do it.”

  “There’s nothing I can do. He admitted to it.”

  Wren sat down, feeling unsteady. It didn’t make any sense. Her father was innocent. He could never murder anybody!

  “It’s true,” said Keegan. His voice was low, compassionate. He kneeled down in front of her. “He said that Garrett came out of the back room while he robbing the till and he picked up the tips jar and hit him with it. He didn’t mean for him to fall against the coffee machine and die, but that’s what happened.”

  “You know he didn’t do it,” said Wren. She felt true despair. “You know it.”

  “I know that, but we have to take him at his word.”

  She didn’t understand why her father was lying. What was he up to?

  Wren made a decision. “Let me talk to him.”

  “He doesn’t want to see anybody,” said Keegan. “He made that perfectly clear.”

  She glared daggers at Keegan. “Take me to my father now or I will make a scene that will make my last one look like a Bible study class.”

  Keegan nodded, and he led her towards the cell. Everyone else stayed behind.

  “Dad?” she called.

  He was standing in his cell, staring at her. He looked like a man who had lost everything. He was a shell.

  “Why did you admit to it?” she demanded, saving her last reserves of anger and betrayal for her father. “Why?”

  “I killed Garrett,” Wick stated.

  “Did someone threaten you? Is someone making you do this?”

  “You have to face the fact that I’m a murderer. I’m not proud of what I did, but I had to do it.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  He laughed bitterly. “You have to believe me because it’s true.”

  Wren wouldn’t put up with this. Someone had gotten to him. Maybe he’d found out about the message on her door and the person watching her house and wanted to protect her? There had to something he wasn’t telling her. She’d never believe he was a murderer. Never.

  Only Fiona and I know about the graffiti and the spying. I never even told Mom or Keegan.

  Her father would only worry further if she insisted on proving him innocent. It was time to try out her acting chops.

  “You really killed him,” she said.

  He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Then maybe prison is the best place for you.”

  She turned her back on him and walked away. It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her life.

  FIONA FELT LIKE SHE had an extra arm. Sheriff Fisher and the other deputies kept staring at her. They were probably wondering wh
o she was and why she was with Wren.

  “Who are you?” Sheriff Fisher asked. He looked at her oddly, as if she was utterly fascinating. “I’ve never seen you around town before.”

  “I’m a friend of Wren,” said the angel. “Fiona McDonald. I was here the other day with Wren.”

  He studied her for a few moments. “I know you, though, right? I’m sure I do. Little Fiona...”

  Fiona felt awkward again. The same thing was happening with the sheriff as what happened with his son. His brain was somehow creating false memories to make her fit into his life. What was going on?

  The sheriff shook his head and smiled. “Glad to see you back in town. It’s been too long. How are your parents?”

  Parents?

  “They’ve retired to Jersey,” said Fiona. “The island, not the state.”

  She had no idea why she said that. It must be because she watched a documentary on Discovery last night about the Nazi occupation of Jersey. During her time in London she’d actually met a British officer whose family were trapped on the island. He’d been worried sick about them.

  “I’m glad you’re here for Wren,” said the sheriff. “This is going to be a hard time for her. I was as surprised as she was when Wick confessed, but I had to take his word for it. If he really did it then he should pay.”

  There was unexpected venom and emotion in his voice.

  “Did anybody visit him in the past day?” Fiona asked. “Maybe someone threatened him.”

  “He had no visitors other than his wife and Reba.”

  She told him about the graffiti and the person watching the house.

  “You think someone got to him?” said the sheriff.

  “I do,” Wren announced, walking up to them. Fiona could feel her friend’s simmering anger. It was palpable. “That man is not a murderer and we all know it.”

  “But how could someone threaten him?” Keegan asked, trying to play devil’s advocate. “Only Reba and Dot came to see him. Are you saying either your mom or your cousin killed Garrett and threatened your dad?”