Meredith Potts Fourteen Book Cozy Mystery Set

by Meredith Potts

  He sighed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m completely knackered.”

  I nodded. “I’m pretty spent myself.”

  Energy was in short supply, but I had just enough to feel miserable at that moment. I looked out the window at the overcast sky, wishing the sun would break through the clouds. I knew I was asking a lot. This was Britain, after all, where sunlight came at a premium, but I’d settle for just a single shaft of sunlight to start. My wish did not come true.

  Oliver offered me sympathy. “I know it doesn’t bring your friend back, but at least you can take comfort in knowing the guilty party is behind bars.”

  “That is practically the textbook definition of bittersweet.”

  “It certainly is.”

  “I know you’re trying to help.”

  “Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

  I gave him a weak smile. “You’re already doing plenty.”

  “On a separate note, you put in some fine detective work back there.”

  That’s how I knew he was desperate to cheer me up. It wasn’t like him to give me all the credit. Oliver was the least ego-centric man I’d ever met, but he was still human. He did have an ego, and no matter how small it happened to be, it was difficult swallowing that to throw the spotlight squarely on me.

  While I was touched by his action, humility came so naturally to me that I immediately shied away from the praise.

  “We’re a team, both in law enforcement and in life. I couldn’t have done this without you any more than you could have done this without me.”

  He smiled. “That’s why I love you. It’s amazing that the hunger for credit is completely absent from your mind.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Is that the only reason you love me?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, love. You know I could spend all night going over all the reasons that I adore you.”

  I became playful with him. “It just so happens that I have all night.”

  He gazed deep into my eyes. “What do you say we start the night off with some dinner?”

  Oliver didn’t have to ask me twice. I was always game to dine out. There was just one condition I could think of. “As long as we can grab some caramels for dessert.”

  He squinted at me. “What about your diet?”

  I was wondering if he was going to call me on that. Luckily, when he did, I came up with an indisputable argument.

  “Are you kidding? If there has ever been an excuse to cheat on my diet, it’s a day like this. Nights like these were built for sweets.”

  Oliver either couldn’t disagree with that or just decided not to. “Caramels it is then.”

  “Brilliant,” I said.

  It was settled then. The evening would have a particularly delicious ending. Hopefully, that would set the stage for good things to come. If that wasn’t the case, fear not, there were always more caramels to bring a smile to my face.

  The End.

  Killer Amnesia

  Chapter One

  “Help me,” the woman screamed.

  I had gone to Collier’s Woods that morning to take a jog. During peak hours, that particular section of the forest was frequented by hikers, mountain bikers, and runners alike. That’s why I loved going at eight o’clock in the morning. As I did my two-and-a-half-mile loop on the trail, the forest was tranquil and the birds outnumbered the people ten-to-one.

  There was even a good half-mile stretch that I felt like I had the place all to myself. That was just how I liked it. A lot of people thought that because I lived in a sleepy little town like Cedar Falls, Wisconsin, that my life was a breeze. What they failed to realize was that as a private investigator, stress was an unavoidable part of my daily life.

  That had not always been the case. Until I became I private eye, I had naively believed that my hometown of twenty-five-thousand people was the same serene and peaceful town of my joyful youth. As I got a few cases under my belt, I realized that things had begun to change. They had mostly done so behind the scenes, but make no mistake, there was plenty of trouble afoot.

  Sometimes disturbing revelations found a way to creep into the light, but mostly they stayed hidden out of view of the general public. Things like infidelity, fraud, and even the occasional murder. Those were the things that I spent my workdays investigating. I tried not to let grim details of my job make me jaded, but I couldn’t pretend like I didn’t miss the old days.

  During my childhood, “The Falls” as the locals called it, had been known for three things—the eponymous waterfall that was located in the northeast corner of town which drew visitors from all over the state, the Wadsworth Brake Pad Factory that provided the lion’s share of the town’s jobs, and the dairy farms that dotted the rural outskirts of town.

  A decade ago, the factory had shut down. With it, not only had the heart and soul of this town been ripped out, but over a thousand hardworking people lost their jobs. Unfortunately, those blue-collar jobs had never returned. Cedar Falls had always been a rust-belt town, but in the last few years, it had begun to look even rustier than ever. Slowly but surely, desperation set in amongst the working class.

  To keep the town from falling into decay, city officials began revitalizing the historic Main Street district and initiated some very generous tax incentives to try and entice new businesses to come to town. Those tax breaks worked, although, not in the way city officials expected. Suddenly, a number of tech firms began opening up shop in Cedar Falls. That brought a slew of white-collar jobs to town that bolstered one sector of the economy while only further leaving those out-of-work factory workers in the dust.

  Suddenly, there was a nasty divide between the white-collar and blue-collar population that only seemed to widen every day. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before things boiled over. This chasm had bolstered my business, but it had also created a general uneasiness amongst the locals.

  Given all that, it should come as no surprise that I relished taking a tranquil jog in the woods before beginning my workday. Running allowed me to be alone with my thoughts. Or on the rare occasion, to clear my head entirely.

  That’s why when I heard the woman call out to me for help that morning, I nearly stopped dead in my tracks. Not only was I unaccustomed to people talking to me when I was jogging, but this woman had serious panic in her voice.

  I turned in her direction and saw her running frantically towards me. She was a woman in her late thirties who was on the thin side and had an angular face, hazel eyes, and long brown hair. As she drew closer, her physical features didn’t matter as much to me as the ragged state she was in.

  First, I had no idea what she was doing in the forest, but she definitely wasn’t there to exercise. While I had been jogging for leisure, she looked like she was running for her life. The bloodstain on her sweater and the gash on her forehead did nothing to dispel my worries. I didn’t know what this woman’s story was, but it definitely featured a disturbing twist.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “What happened to you?”

  The woman had a blank expression on her face. I could see the gears turning in her head, but she was having trouble coming up with an answer.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  Her reply didn’t make a lick of sense to me. “You don’t know?”

  The woman had a pained look on her face as she shook her head. “No. I can’t remember what happened.”

  Each new word out of her mouth only confused me even more.

  Before I had a chance to question her further, she rubbed her forehead.

  “I have the worst headache,” she said.

  “Do you know how you got that gash on your forehead?”

  She shook her head. “No clue.”

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked.

  “Running as fast as I can through the woods,” she replied.

  “From what? Or who?”

  The woman strained again but
came up with no answer. “I wish I could tell you.”

  This conversation was maddening. And not just for me. I could see that the woman was trying her hardest to search her mind for answers. Instead, her memory failed her.

  I tried to start over with the most basic question I could think of. “Can you at least tell me your name?”

  She grimaced. “I don’t even remember that.”

  I gritted my teeth as my frustration came to a boiling point.

  The woman was highly apologetic. “I’m sorry. I wish I knew more.”

  I forced a smile and replied in as soothing of a tone as I could muster. “Don’t worry.”

  My advice for her was not to panic, but that’s exactly what I was doing on the inside. This was serious business. The kind of matter I couldn’t handle on my own. Luckily, I knew who to turn to for assistance.

  “I’m going to call for help,” I said.

  Chapter Two

  My boyfriend, Detective Steven Griffin, arrived on the scene fifteen minutes later. He was an athletic man in his late thirties with short black hair, a full beard, and a ruggedly handsome face. Luckily, he lived only a few minutes away from the edge of the forest. He was also quite familiar with where I took my morning jogs. That made meeting up with us quite easy.

  Steven must have made some serious tracks getting over here. The mystery woman, whom I had taken to calling Jane Doe, had barely made it up to the edge of the woods with me where my car was parked, when Steven pulled into the parking lot. I was so relieved to see him. If the guilty party who had caused Jane Doe’s injuries was still in the woods, it meant they were still dangerous and could potentially strike again. That’s why I wanted to have as much backup as I could get.

  Right on Steven’s heels, an ambulance showed up on the scene a few minutes later to treat Jane Doe’s wounds. A pair of twentysomething male paramedics rushed over to Jane to stop the bleeding from her head. While the EMTs took care of Jane, Steven and I couldn’t do much more than stand off to the side and watch. Steven kept his focus squarely on the paramedics. The same could not be said for me. I saw a look of deep concern in his eyes that drew my attention.

  Steven’s worry was twofold. On a professional level, he was fretting about Jane. On a personal level, he was worried about me. Like a loving boyfriend, Steven didn’t like me being in danger. That’s why he wasn’t a particular big fan of my line of work. As a private eye, I often found myself in dicey situations. That was bad enough.

  For danger to have found me when I was simply out taking a jog, it added an entire new element of worry to his repertoire. The look of dismay was all over his face as he tried to assess the situation.

  While he waited on an update from the EMTs, I gave Steven the lowdown on the situation.

  ***

  After giving my boyfriend the scant details Jane had provided me with, naturally, Steven had a number of questions. He was not alone. As a matter of fact, Steven could join the club. I had a half a dozen questions of my own that I could rattle off the top of my head if I wanted to. It just didn’t seem wise to overwhelm him at this juncture. While the scope of my questions was wide, Steven honed in on one detail in particular about Jane.

  “I can’t believe this, Melanie. So she has no memory at all?” Steven asked.

  I shook my head. “None to speak of.”

  Steven was unable to hide his discouragement. “She doesn’t remember anything?”

  “Not even her name.”

  “So the first and last thing she remembers is running through the woods?”

  I nodded. “Pretty much.”

  Steven groaned. I knew what he was thinking—that it was the worst possible way to begin a case. He wasn’t wrong. I can’t remember the last time I had this little information going into a case.

  This had the makings of a particularly stressful investigation. That’s why I was glad that Steven had finally moved beyond the point where he spent the first five minutes of every case arguing with me about how I should leave the investigative work to him.

  During our previous cases, it was an understatement to say that he had not been thrilled about me taking on the role of amateur sleuth. Never mind that it was a natural extension of my chosen profession. Initially, in Steven’s mind, the last place he wanted me to be was near a crime scene.

  As I began solving case after case, he started coming around to the idea of me helping him with his casework in an unofficial capacity. It didn’t take him long to realize that I rarely took “no” for an answer. I could tell that I would need that dogged determination more than ever with this investigation. With Jane seemingly not remembering a thing, we were certainly starting this case off on an unfavorable note.

  That being said, I tried not to let the lack of information bother me. It was hard enough digging up the truth under the best of circumstances. If I lingered on the disadvantages Steven and I were faced with, it would be too easy to get bogged down.

  Instead, I kept my head up and revealed the remaining bits of information I had gathered.

  “The mystery woman also has no identification of any kind, either. I’m afraid we’re flying completely blind on this one.”

  Steven grimaced. “Wow. When was the last time you ran into a woman with no ID in this day and age?”

  “The same time I ran into a woman with a bloody sweater running through the woods. Which is to say, never.”

  Another question popped into Steven’s mind. “Does she not even have a phone?”

  “Amazingly enough, no. Not even one of those prepaid flip phones.”

  Steven’s face contorted with discomfort as I finished revealing that latest detail.

  “I can only think of one reason a person would have no ID or phone,” he said.

  “So can I, and it’s a scary thing to even think about.”

  “The odds are, whoever caused that gash on her head also took her ID and phone.”

  I agreed. “The question is, who is that? And where are they now?”

  “I can think of another pressing question. If someone was able to give the mystery woman such a significant gash on her head, how was she able to get away?”

  “That’s another good question that I don’t have an answer to,” I replied.

  “You asked her all these questions, though, right?” Steven said.

  “I did. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to answer any of them. She told me the only thing she remembers is running frantically through the woods.”

  Steven’s exasperation kept building. He let out a sigh as a slew of questions streamed out of his mouth. “Who did this? And why? More importantly, where are they now?”

  “I have been wondering that myself.”

  Steven looked back into the woods. “Whoever did this is out there somewhere.”

  “Yeah. If we find them, we’ll get all the answers we are looking for.”

  “If they are still alive, you mean.”

  Steven had brought up a point that I hadn’t considered.

  “Wait a minute. You think—”

  My boyfriend interrupted me. “We know that someone gave her this gash. But what if during their skirmish, she wasn’t the only one who ended up injured? Perhaps the person who did this to her isn’t on the loose after all. Maybe they ended up with more than just a gash on the head.”

  “Are you implying that maybe they are dead?”

  “Like you said, we don’t have a whole lot of information to go on. In that case, it is best to consider every possibility.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “There’s only one way to know for sure.” I stared into the forest. “The answer is in there somewhere. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of area to cover.”

  Steven’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I can’t wait until the K9 team gets here.”

  “Neither can I. If the person who did this is still alive, they are probably booking it to the edge of the forest as quickly as possible.”

  Steven concu
rred. “Yeah. If they’re smart.”

  “Let’s hope they’re not smart,” I said.

  Steven nodded. “Unfortunately, criminals are rarely as dumb as we’d like them to be.”

  I tried to look on the bright side. “We still manage to get lucky sometimes.”

  My boyfriend crossed his fingers. “Let’s hope this is one of those times. In the meantime, let’s see if this mystery woman has gotten any of her memory back.”

  ***

  Steven didn’t get his wish. As we walked over to the ambulance, the paramedics had stopped the bleeding from the gash on Jane’s head and had bandaged her up. One thing they weren’t able to help with was her memory.

  That didn’t stop Steven from trying to get some information out of her. He showed the mystery woman his police badge, introduced himself, then went to work.

  “I know this is a difficult time, but I have to ask you some questions,” Steven said.

  “I understand. Although, I’m going to warn you, I probably won’t have any answers for you,” the woman replied.

  That didn’t deter Steven from pushing ahead. “Tell me what you remember.”

  “Not much, I’m afraid,” the woman said.

  Steven wasn’t expecting her answer to be that short. Surely, that wasn’t the extent of what she knew. Even though he knew that I had already asked her all of these questions, Steven was determined to squeeze whatever additional information he could out of her.

  “It may not be much, but it could be useful. Tell me everything that you remember, no matter how trivial it may seem.”

  The woman took a deep breath. “All right. I wish I could tell you more, but the last thing I remember is running through the woods. The strange thing is, I can’t tell you what I was running from or how I even knew that I was going the right direction. My gut instinct was just telling me that I needed to keep running as fast as possible. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, I was completely winded. I stopped for a second to catch my breath. That’s when I looked down and saw the blood on my sweater. It was then that my adrenaline kicked in. I got a second wind and continued running as quickly as possible. Shortly after that, I spotted Melanie.”