Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Rare Catch Cozy Mystery

by Liz Turner

  Lorenzo slowly moved down the stairs until he reached the living room, and he glanced around at his visitors.

  “Hello, Chefs and Detective. Welcome to our home.” He waved a hand at the seats available. “Please, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable.”

  “Thank you, Mister Amato,” Max returned, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

  “I’ll go get some plates and forks,” Pietro offered, disappearing through a door that must lead to the kitchen. He came back with the items and set them out on the table. “Is Rupert coming down?”

  “I don’t think so,” Lorenzo answered. “He’s still very upset.”

  Pietro’s eyes fell to his feet. “I can’t believe this happened.”

  “That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” Veronica contributed from her seat on the couch, and the men glanced at her. “We want to find out who did this horrible thing, so they can be brought to justice.”

  “Is it all right if I ask you some questions about Leo?” Max requested. “So I can get a better idea of who might have killed him.”

  “Of course. Anything you need.” Lorenzo’s nod was stiff. “Anything we can do to help.”

  “Well, tell us about Leo,” Max suggested. “What was he like?”

  “My little brother,” Pietro began. “He was great. He was a photographer for the Meloda Times, but he did some freelance photography too.”

  “And he was really good at it,” Lorenzo added. He pointed to the photographs on the mantle. “He took most of those. He always liked to take pictures from a unique perspective.”

  “I noticed. He’s terrific,” Veronica complimented. “Did he make a lot of money?”

  “Not much, but enough for him,” Lorenzo answered. Pietro bit the inside of his cheek. “He also did it just for fun. One of his favorite places to take photos is in the neighborhood, especially the park.”

  “So…This will sound insensitive, and I’m sorry,” Detective Bernard stated. “But he spent a lot of time at the park? It wasn’t strange to find him there?”

  “I suppose not,” Lorenzo replied. “He said it was good practice, and he had one of these fancy digital cameras so he never had to worry about wasting film. Technology these days, huh?”

  “He’d take pictures any chance he got,” Pietro contributed. “Be there rain or snow or sunny days. Didn’t matter. He could find a picture in everything.”

  “How about his personal life?” Veronica inquired. “Any girlfriends? I presume he isn’t married, but I could be wrong.”

  Pietro shook his head. “No, you are right. He’s had a few girlfriends over the years but no one recently, and he’s never gotten married.”

  “He seemed happy enough with his job and his life with us,” Lorenzo said. “He’s great with Rupert.”

  “That’s my son,” Pietro clarified. “He’s seven.”

  “So the three...I mean four of you live here together?” Veronica asked. “That wasn’t a problem?”

  “You’re trying to diplomatically ask if we got along?” Lorenzo said, a slight teasing to his tone. He immediately went somber again. “We’re family. We have our arguments, but we get along wonderfully.”

  “What do you do, Mister Amato?” Max inquired of the elder of the two men.

  “I’m retired now, but I was a surgeon for a long time,” Lorenzo answered. “I don’t work, which is great because I can spend time with my grandson when he isn’t at school or with friends, and Pietro doesn’t have to worry about him.”

  “I’m a general practitioner at an emergency health clinic,” Pietro added. “Meloda Urgent Care.”

  “I’ve been there a few times,” Sakura added, speaking for the first time since she entered the house. Amber whimpered next to her. “One time when I had a severe sinus infection, and I couldn’t get into my regular doctor.”

  “So all three of you are able to make enough to afford this house?” Detective Bernard inquired out of the blue.

  “I’ve owned this house for years,” Lorenzo informed him. “We don’t even have a mortgage to pay any more. But we are able to pay all our expenses, yes.”

  “I bet you have some fun on these vacations too, right?” Veronica asked, more kindly than Max, and she pointed to a few of the photographs taken in foreign countries.

  Lorenzo smiled. “Yes. My family has always loved traveling. We go to my hometown over in Italy every few years, but as you can see we have been many other places as well.”

  Veronica and Max looked at each other, and they each gave a slight nod of agreement. This family had no financial problems that might lead to Leo being murdered.

  “Mister Amato – Pietro, that is,” Max corrected himself. “May I ask about Rupert’s mother?”

  “We recently divorced. I have full custody,” Pietro answered, his voice matter-of-fact. “She moved to Florida, but she sees Rupert on occasion.”

  “So she hasn’t heard the news?” Sakura asked, and Pietro nodded to her. “Is Rupert doing all right? He doesn’t have his mom here to comfort him.”

  Pietro’s eyes fell to his feet. “No, and I’m really regretting it right now. I don’t know how to really explain it to him. I’m very concerned.”

  Being the one seated closest to the staircase, Veronica was the only one who heard the bang at the top. She tilted her head towards the noise for a second, but when she looked around it seemed that no one else had heard it.

  “Sounds like Rupert really loves his uncle.” Veronica glanced at the photos of the happy child on the wall.

  “He does. I’m really concerned how this might affect him,” Pietro replied. He scratched his chin in thought. “I wonder if having him see a therapist is a good idea at his age.”

  “That might not be a bad idea,” Max concurred. “A traumatic event like this is bad enough for an adult. I can’t imagine wheat it must be like for a young boy.”

  There was another thump, but Veronica kept its occurrence to herself again.

  “Seems like Leo was a likable guy,” Max commented. “Doesn’t sound like there’s anyone who would want to hurt him.”

  “I don’t think so either,” Lorenzo confirmed. “He was well-liked around the neighborhood…except by Louis Edwards, but he doesn’t like anybody.”

  “So there isn’t anyone who comes to mind who might want Leo dead?” Veronica questioned. “Any enemies he might have? Someone with a grudge?”

  “No one comes immediately to mind,” Lorenzo answered. He put his hands together and placed them under his chin. “I guess there might be someone working at the Meloda Times, but you’d have to ask around there to know for sure. If there was anyone at work giving Leo trouble, he didn’t talk about it at home.”

  “Didn’t he have that problem with Aileen Dolan a little while ago?” Pietro contributed. He glanced at the investigators. “She hired him for a photography job, but apparently she didn’t like the results and wanted a refund. Leo wouldn’t give it to her.”

  “That’s right. I remember now,” Lorenzo agreed. “Aileen came by the other day to talk to him, but Leo refused to see her. She seemed pretty mad about it.”

  “Sounds like something to look into,” Veronica said, and both Max and Sakura nodded in agreement. “Where is their house?

  “If you face the park we were at, it’s the one on the right,” Lorenzo directed them. “Completely opposite of our house.”

  “Thank you,” Detective Bernard said. “I think we’ll talk to them next.”

  “I need to make a few calls,” Pietro stated. “I’ve got to let the Times know Leo won’t be working there anymore, and start making preparations for the funeral.”

  “A little quick on that, don’t you think?” Sakura asked bluntly. Veronica gave her a gentle elbow in the stomach.

  “No. The sooner that’s over with the sooner my son can heal,” Pietro debated. Veronica heard another small thump but shook her head to remove it from her mind.

  “And I have family still in Italy,” Lorenzo
mentioned to his son. “They’ll want to come in time for the funeral. Don’t make it too quick so they miss it.”

  “I won’t,” Pietro agreed. He turned back to the investigators. “Let me show you out.”

  “Thank you, but we can go ourselves. We won’t keep you any longer for now,” Max replied. “In the meantime, if you do think of anything that might be helpful to our investigation, please let us know.”

  “We will,” Lorenzo concurred. “And thank you, Chef Koche, for the meal.”

  “You’re quite welcome, Mister Amato.” Amber gave a small bark in response.

  The trio with Amber left and headed for the house Lorenzo had directed them to. On the way, Veronica made a slight detour to her van, Sakura and Amber right behind her. Max watched in confusion as the women left his company.

  “Is everything all right?” he asked. “Did you need to get something?”

  “We need to make the food for the Dolans, remember?” Sakura reminded him.

  Veronica laughed at the embarrassed expression on Max’s face. “Have you forgotten our so-called ‘undercover’ plan already?”

  “Hey! I was just focused!” Max’s face remained a little red.

  “Sure you were,” Veronica teased, and Amber barked in agreement.

  Chapter 4

  The Dolans’ house stood out the most of all the homes on the Delta Avenue cul-de-sac, and it wasn’t only because it was the only house with three stories instead of two. On the ground floor, many of the walls weren’t walls at all, but actually large panes of glass allowing anyone to look in and out. Even from her location on the sidewalk, Veronica could see a sizable living room with two couches that appeared to be made of leather, although it was hard to tell with the glare on the glass.

  The two floors above were a bit more private but still had numerous windows, and Veronica wondered if the place had sunlight shining in at nearly any time during the day. Most of the windows were oval, with crosses in between. The outer walls had been painted a deep gray with white trimming, although Sakura pointed out a few areas near the bottom where simple flowers and trees were painted. The flowers were two-dimensional, with only a few pedals sticking out at the top while the trees were much taller with their leaves represented by circles of green. A bright yellow circle, which must have been the sun, had been painted at the top, along with a streak of blue sky. The broad strokes and lack of detail clearly indicated the work of an inexperienced hand.

  “The Dolans have two children,” Veronica informed her friend. “They probably painted all that when they were little.”

  “I hope they own the house,” Sakura commented. “If they rent, the owner will want them to paint over it when they leave.”

  “I’ve got a feeling that’s not a problem.”

  If the child paintings on the side of the building weren’t an indication that it was a house with kids, the contents of the front yard certainly gave it away. A white fence kept everything inside, but there were various toys scattered around on the grass. A couple of toy trucks, a plastic guitar, a pair of bicycles (one notably larger than the other), and a giant plastic slide were only a few of the things left outside. Veronica wouldn’t be surprised if there were more in the backyard too. Now she was no expert on children, having none of her own yet, but Veronica was pretty sure the toys were of the kind used by young boys. This made perfect sense considering she saw a group of boys playing during the welcoming party.

  Don’t get caught up in gender stereotypes, Veronica, she reminded herself. Thank goodness there aren’t any stuffed toys out here. They’d get moldy fast with the rain we’ve been having.

  Near the center of the yard was a large oak tree, and built around its trunk, no more than a foot and a half above the ground, was a wooden tree house. It was about three feet tall from top to bottom, and with a few corners where the house was trying to curve around the oak. The corners had been rounded down to soften them, probably to keep the children from hurting themselves. The tree house appeared quite old, with rusting nails and rain-stained wood, and Veronica could only assume it had not been used for some years.

  It was a little sad, actually, that something like this would have been left to rot. Why would the children not want to play outside in a tree house? Were they just inside the whole time? Were television and video games really better than imagination? This tree house could be a pirate ship, a spaceship, or a cowboy saloon, just to name a few ideas. Why was it being ignored?

  “You have that faraway look again,” Max announced as he walked up to Veronica’s side. She turned to look at him in surprise. “What were you thinking about?”

  “Lots of things,” she admitted. She glanced down at the covered food she carried. “Nothing about the murder. Just thoughts about stuff.”

  “Care to share?” Max gave her a broad smile.

  “Not right now. We need to focus.”

  “So says the woman who was lost in thought about all the children things,” Sakura teased, and Veronica gave her a small punch on her shoulder. “Okay, so this is the Dolans, right?”

  “Right. Same plan as before,” Detective Bernard reminded them. “Follow my lead.”

  He reached over the fence to unlatch it from the opposite side and opened the gate. The three investigators headed towards the large front door next to the enormous pane of glass that made up the wall of the living room. Veronica peeked inside to see a boy somewhere in his first teenage years sitting on one of the couches. He must have seen them approach, as he immediately jumped from his seat and headed for the door. It was open before the group even made it to the porch.

  “Hi. You guys are with the police, right?” he asked, brown eyes sparkling with curiosity.

  “That’s right,” Max confirmed. “I take it your parents are home? We asked them to stay.”

  “Yeah. They’re upstairs.” The teen turned to the steps right behind the front door. “Mom! Dad! The police are here to talk to us!”

  “A lot of people are upstairs when we show up, huh?” Sakura wondered aloud, recalling how Lorenzo had been on the second floor of his house when they visited.

  The boy returned to the living room as a couple of adults rushed down the steps, followed shortly by a younger boy. Based on their appearance the adults were Sully and Aileen Dolan, the parents of the two boys. Aileen was darker, with black hair and eyes, while Sully was a bright redhead. He appeared to be growing a beard if the red stubble around his chin and cheeks were any indication. Aileen wore the same blue sundress from the party, but Sully had changed into a more comfortable pair of sweats instead of the slacks he had on at the park. Aileen had a more solemn expression, apparently lines with worry around her eyes and lips, but her husband seemed more cheerful. Veronica wondered for a moment why that was, but her thoughts were interrupted by the shout that came from the youngest boy.

  “Hey! A puppy!” He ran past his parents’ legs and practically slid to where Amber was standing, her tail wagging so hard it was making the rest of her body move in sync. He started petting Amber and scratching behind her ears, and Amber yipped in pleasure. “Can I play with her? Please?”

  “Cale, you should always ask before petting a stranger’s dog,” Aileen reprimanded, but gently.

  Veronica bit her lip and gave the Dolans a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I should’ve asked first if Amber could come in.”

  “No worries, Chef Koche,” Sully responded. He leaned down and gave Amber a few strokes to her head as well. “We don’t have a dog right now, but they are more than welcome in our house.”

  “But that’s not why you came here, is it?” Aileen asked. “It’s about what happened to Leo, right?”

  “That’s right,” Detective Bernard answered. “We’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. Please come in.” Aileen gave Amber a small grin. “All of you.”

  Veronica, Sakura, and Max were led into the living room, which sure enough was what they could see from the
outside through the large sheet of glass. Veronica had presumed that such a building would be harsh to the rest of its décor, but it was the exact opposite. The sofas were warm and plush, relaxing to sit in. Unlike the front lawn, there was not a single toy to be found in the room. Veronica figured they might be in the children’s bedrooms, or perhaps a playroom. The house was certainly big enough for one.

  The rest of the living room was rather bare, except for some framed pictures of the two boys as they grew. There were ones of Aileen, noticeably pregnant, both with and without the older sibling. Sports trophies were put on display on one of the wall shelves, mostly involving soccer. A few paintings similar to the ones outside had been framed and hung on the walls, and Veronica didn’t bother to suppress a smile. Her mother had done the same thing for her and her sister whenever they did any kind of art. A mother’s pride in her child’s creations came from love, not the child’s skill.

  Cale had brought Amber to the center of the room, where she promptly rolled onto her back so he could rub her belly. The older boy joined in, but only for a moment before he sniffed the air. His gaze immediately snapped to the plates Veronica and Sakura held.

  “Something smells good!” he declared with a lick of his lips. “Is that the lunch we missed out on?”

  “Liam!” his mother called. “Mind your manners!”

  “Yes, Mom…”

  Veronica chuckled. “Typical teenager. Always thinking about food, huh?”

  “He’s a growing boy, that’s for sure!” Sully proclaimed as he gave his elder son a firm pat on his shoulder. “But he’s right about it smelling tasty.”

  “We brought you lunch,” Veronica announced. “Since no one was able to enjoy it earlier, given the circumstances.”