by K. M. Morgan
“Don’t worry about it. Everyone knows conversations that take place before seven a.m. don’t count anyway. We’re all given a mulligan in the morning.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s a new rule I just made up, but I like it.”
“Daisy McDare, I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy getting to know you.”
“Does that mean I’ll see you back here tomorrow?” she asked.
“If you don’t mind driving all the way across town that is,” he said.
“Of course. Remember, I have an ex-boyfriend to avoid after all.”
“Right. Until tomorrow then.” He flashed her a big grin.
“Bye. Good luck putting out that emotional grease fire of yours,” she replied.
Ugh. Daisy’s foot in the mouth disease struck at the worst possible time. What was it about being around an attractive man that turned her into a tongue-twisted twit?
She was a completely capable woman in all other respects except when it came to being around attractive men. The only consolation was that both she and Gavin seemed to take turns making fools of themselves.
He seemed like such a nice guy. It was a shame his heart had been through the blender of a break up as well. She had no idea what to expect from future interactions, but Daisy knew she couldn’t wait to run into him again. She gave him a big smile as she walked with her dog to the car. Then she tripped over a rock n the ground. She didn’t turn around, but she was sure he was laughing to himself.
Chapter Nine
“I didn’t do it,” Angela Franklin yelled.
The law office seemed to be ground zero for drama. That morning was no different. Daisy was just arriving to pick up where she left off on her redecorating job when she saw a police deputy put a handcuffed Angela Franklin into the back of a squad car.
The rest of the office employees looked on as the scene unfolded. Daisy meanwhile couldn’t get over her shock. The case was only two days old and the night maid was already being arrested for the murder of Max Cash.
That seemed way too quick. Not to mention wrong. When Angela told Daisy the day before that she didn’t kill Max, Daisy’s gut instinct told her she wasn’t lying. That hadn’t changed.
If anything, she felt that was even truer than ever. Daisy looked into Angela’s eyes as she declared her innocence from the back of the squad car.
Daisy didn’t see guilt in those eyes. There were a lot of things Daisy wasn’t good at, but spotting a lie was a specialty of hers.
Angela’s eyes weren’t shifty. She wasn’t avoiding eye contact. She was telling the truth. Daisy was convinced of it.
An awful pit formed in Daisy’s stomach. Something wasn’t right. She approached Detective Crumple, looking for an explanation.
Crumple looked proud of himself as he slurped coffee and took a bite of his jelly donut.
“Why are you arresting Angela Franklin?” Daisy asked.
Crumple rolled his eyes as he turned to Daisy.
“Because, she murdered Max Cash,” Detective Crumple said.
Daisy wasn’t convinced. “How can you be so sure?”
Crumple was annoyed that she was keeping him from his donut. “Detective work.”
Daisy shook her head, her gut instinct disagreeing with Crumple more than ever. “No, that can’t be right.”
Crumple sighed. “Look Ms. McDare. I’m a detective. You’re a redecorator. I wouldn’t tell you how to do your job, so don’t tell me how to do mine.”
Daisy clutched her stomach. It was in knots now. “My instincts are telling me you’re wrong.”
Crumple scoffed. “Your instincts?”
Daisy nodded again. “They never lead me wrong, and they’re telling me Angela Franklin isn’t the murderer.”
That gave Crumple a good chuckle. “Thank Ms. McDare. I needed a good laugh like that.”
“Detective Crumple, I’m not kidding.”
“Let me tell you something. I’m a detective. Solid police work doesn’t run on hunches or gut instincts. It runs on cold, hard facts. And the facts in this case point to Angela Franklin being the murderer.”
“What facts are those?”
“How about the fact that rat poison was found in Cash’s coffee cup? Now we found a half-empty bottle of the poison on Franklin’s maid cart. On top of that, she was the only one in the building at the time of the murder. Not to mention she had one heck of a motive.”
Daisy furrowed her brow. “What motive?”
“You don’t know about Steven Franklin?”
“Who is that?”
“Angela’s oldest son…and former client of Max Cash. Steven got busted for possession of a controlled substance.”
“Really?” Daisy replied.
“He and his friend were taking bong hits at a party one night. When it came time to leave, Steven noticed his friend was too high to drive home, so Steven got behind the wheel. When he got pulled over for blowing a stop sign on the way home, the deputy found a big stash of weed in the glove compartment. And a lot of hard drugs too numerous to mention. Steven argued he didn’t know the drugs were there, but with a trace of marijuana in his system from the bong hits at the party, neither the deputy nor the jury believed him. He’s doing three to five years now in prison,” Crumple explained.
Daisy’s eyes opened wide. “Wow.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t know about that case. It was one of the few Max didn’t win. Angela never forgave Max for losing the case. That’s what we call motive. If only all the cases where this cut and dry. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a suspect to book at the station,” Crumple said.
As Crumple walked away, Daisy’s jaw nearly hit the floor. So that was the mysterious event in the past that Angela had tried to desperately to avoid talking about. No wonder she cried so much. It explained why she was so broken up and emotionally fragile. To lose her oldest son to jail was a heartbreak she couldn’t recover from.
At the same time, just because she blamed Max for losing the case didn’t mean she murdered him. Angela had a second son she was doing her best to raise. She was a devoted Christian, enough so to quote “thou shalt not kill” from the Bible to Daisy. If that wasn’t enough, there was still Daisy’s gut feeling.
Her instincts still had not wavered, despite the new revelations. As Daisy looked into Angela’s eyes again before the squad car pulled away, she still believed Angela was telling the truth about not murdering Max.
***
They arrested the wrong woman.
Daisy couldn’t get that thought out of her head, no matter how much she tried. She couldn’t believe the police had been so hasty. They didn’t even have all the facts yet. There were still leads to follow up on.
Daisy knew something was funny with this case, and she wouldn’t stop until she got to the bottom of it. She refused to believe things were so cut and dry. Even worse, she was convinced an innocent woman was going to jail—for murder.
She knew she had to take things into her own hands. It was obvious the detective wasn’t going to listen.
Crumple thought the case was solved. He was wrong. Daisy just knew it.
At the same time, the detective needed more than just her hunch to go on. She’d have to give him some hard evidence.
Usually Daisy wouldn’t get wrapped up in something like this, but she couldn’t let an innocent woman rot in prison. On top of that, the real murderer was still out there. Not only were they getting away with their crime, but they could also murder again.
Daisy hated the she was on her own with this one, but she knew she had to get to the bottom of this. The question was, where to start? By her math, there were at least six more suspects in the office alone.
She had to tread lightly. If one of them had really murdered Max, there was no telling they wouldn’t murder again. Not to mention they’d remain tight-lipped about their secret.
They weren’t going to get away with it though. Daisy was determined to crack the case. And she kn
ew just where to start.
Chapter Ten
Brooke Cash was wearing lots of pink again. She seemed to have a different pink outfit every day. And everything she owned had at least some pink in it. Daisy didn’t even realize they made that made pink outfits. She also couldn’t help but wonder what Brooke had against other colors.
Would it hurt to try a nice blue or red? Even orange? Daisy couldn’t even remember the last time she wore something pink, and here Brooke looked like head to toe cotton candy today.
There was more to think about than just Brooke’s fashion choices. Namely, her husband’s murder. Brooke was the most obvious of suspects. She had a killer motive.
In the last week, she found out that her husband was cheating on her again—with his legal assistant. On top of that, when she declared she was through with his cheating and her intentions to divorce him, he told her he’d fight her tooth and nail in court to keep every dime he could.
With Max dead, she had everything to gain. Although she could never erase the memory of her husband’s infidelity, at least she wouldn’t have to look at his cheating face anymore. He couldn’t hurt her again if he was in the ground. On top of that, she didn’t have to go through a lengthy and contentious divorce. Now she’d get to keep every dime.
That was a pretty strong motive. One could even argue that Brooke Cash’s life was a lot happier with her husband dead. Not a lot of people could say that.
She had the motive and the means to slip rat poison into her husband’s coffee after hours, but did she actually do the deed? That was a tougher call.
Daisy knew one thing. For a recent widow, Brooke Cash sure seemed to be short on tears. Her eyes were as dry as could be.
With Angela in custody, the rest of the deputies headed back to the station. For the employees of the law office, that meant it was time to get back to work.
Daisy approached Brooke in the parking lot as she and the rest of the employees made their way into the building.
“Mrs. Cash, can I talk to you for a second?” Daisy asked.
Brooke gave her a confused look. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”
“Oh—right. I’m Daisy McDare. Your husband hired me to redecorate the office.”
“Ah--right. What can I do for you?”
“First, I’d like to say I’m sorry for your loss. It was a terrible thing what happened to your husband,” Daisy said.
Daisy looked into her eyes and saw no remorse. Brooke actually had a sense of relief on her face. That was, until Max was brought up. That’s when the fire of a jilted wife came back into her eyes.
“I can’t say he didn’t deserve it,” Brooke declared.
Brooke’s emotional fury over being cheated on hadn’t dulled in the least. She was still as hot about it as ever.
One thought came to Daisy’s mind at that moment—this woman was definitely capable of murder.
Daisy tried to hide her shock about how raw Brooke’s emotions were.
“I can’t really speak to that,” Daisy said.
“Angela Franklin may have been the one to do the deed, but Max had it coming alright,” Brooke continued.
“Well, you have my sympathies Mrs. Cash.”
“Thank you. It’s a very emotional time.”
Daisy had never seen someone look so cold saying that.
“I meant I’m sorry that he cheated on you. I know what that’s like. Men can be such dogs sometimes, can’t they?” Daisy replied.
Brooke scoffed. “Are you kidding? Dogs are much cuter.”
There seemed to be no letup in Brooke. She was in full ‘scorned wife’ mode, even as a new widow.
Daisy gave her a fake laugh for her bitter joke, then went digging for clues. “So true. I don’t know about you, but when I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me, I couldn’t wait to hit the bar for a drink. How about you?”
“I’m too old for that,” Brooke insisted.
“What did you do the other night then?”
Brooke put on a devilish smile. “I went on a shopping spree with Max’s credit cards.”
Daisy did the math in her head. If Brooke was out shopping, she could have easily made a quick stop at the office that night to poison her husband’s drink, then gone right back to shopping. There was a flimsy alibi if ever Daisy had heard one.
“Good call,” Daisy said.
Brooke nodded. “I probably spent two thousand dollars in one pop.”
“Wow. Sounds like you had one heck of a night.”
“I’ll say. I’ll never forget it.” Brooke then got really quiet as the realization that she was being grilled sunk in.
Daisy was looking to rule out some subjects, but if anything, this conversation made Brooke look guiltier than before.
Brooke changed the subject. “By the way, shouldn’t you be getting back to work?”
“Actually, I was coming over here to ask you about that. With your husband gone, I wasn’t sure that I should continue with the job,” Daisy explained.
Brooke seemed surprised at the idea of Daisy not finishing. “Of course you should.”
“Really?”
Brooke nodded.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the law firm is all.”
“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen, it’s going to go on just as strong as ever. Your redecorating job is just what we need for our fresh start,” Brooke declared.
“In that case, I’ll get back to it then,” Daisy said.
“Before you do, I have an announcement to make,” Brooke said.
***
Brooke assembled the entire staff.
“As you all know, it has been a terrible few days. Now that the murderer has been caught though, it is time to get back to business. With my husband gone, you may be wondering what the future of this law office is. I’m here to tell you. The firm is going to be in great hands…with Peter Simpson at the helm,” Brooke said.
Peter, Max’s young protégé, then stepped forward and nodded to Brooke.
“I have decided to make Peter a partner in this firm. He will be taking over my husband’s case load while I become a silent partner in the background,” she continued.
Peter then said a few words. “First, I’d like to give a big thanks to Brooke Cash for trusting in my abilities. I’m going to do everything I can to live up to the reputation of this firm.”
As Daisy watched the announcement, she couldn’t help but be struck by the look in Peter’s eyes. Much like Brooke, Peter Simpson’s life seemed to have gotten better with Max’s death as well.
The day Max was murdered, Peter was rather vocal with his complaints over not being made a partner. Max told him to be patient. Peter threatened to leave for another law firm. Max then threatened to ruin Peter if he dared leave this law office. Now with Max dead, Peter got the partnership he’d been craving.
Daisy would clearly have to pay Peter a visit later, but first she wanted to chase down another hunch.
***
It was rather fitting that Daisy ran into the office’s legal assistant Chloe Donaldson at the coffee maker shortly after the announcement. Even though Max’s office was the scene of the crime, the coffee maker was where trouble started brewing.
Daisy had a bunch of questions for Chloe. As Max’s faithful and doting assistant that always made sure his coffee cup was full, she had means to pour rat poison in his cup without him realizing it.
And as a woman having an affair with a married man that didn’t want to get a divorce, she had plenty of motive too. In Daisy’s eyes, that made her a prime suspect.
On top of that, the last time Daisy saw Chloe, she was running out of Max’s office trying to hold back tears. What had gone on in that office? Daisy thought the answer to that question could blow this case wide open.
The problem was, how to bring it up in a roundabout way without arousing Chloe’s suspicions?
“Rumor has it, you’re the woman to come to for a dynamite cup of coffee,”
Daisy said.
“I don’t know about that,” Chloe replied.
“Max sure seemed to like your coffee.”
“Max liked any cup of coffee he didn’t have to make himself,” Chloe muttered.
“He was a busy guy. The man sure seemed to work late pretty often,” Daisy replied.
“Oh yeah. The job of a defense lawyer is rarely nine to five.”
“How about you? Did he force you to work overtime often?”
“Actually, not usually.”
“Really?”
“Max didn’t like to pay for overtime,” Chloe revealed.
“Ah. If you were gone at night, who was around to make him coffee?” Daisy joked.
“I always made him a fresh pot just before I left and kept it on the burner for him.”
Daisy then saw a shift in Chloe’s attitude. Chloe tensed up and wanted to change the subject.
“What’s with all this talk about coffee anyway?” Chloe asked.
“Sorry, I just have caffeine on the brain. I’m not quite myself until I have a cup of Joe in the morning,” Daisy answered.
“I hear you. Anyway, I should probably get back to work,” Chloe said.
She certainly seemed eager to exit this conversation. Daisy wasn’t about to let Chloe off the hook that easy.
“By the way, how are you holding up?” Daisy asked.
Chloe furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
“Your boss was just murdered. I was just wondering how you’re handling things.”
“Oh. Well, it’s a shock for sure. I’ve never had a boss like Max before.”
Considering they were having an affair, that was the understatement of the century. Clearly Chloe didn’t realize Daisy knew about the affair. Daisy decided to press on for more information.
“I’ll say,” Daisy replied.
Chloe jumped on the defensive. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Daisy stared her down. “I know about you and Max.”
