Meredith Potts Fourteen Book Cozy Mystery Set

by Meredith Potts

Could I keep my subjectivity from clouding my view long enough to discover the truth? I wasn’t sure. For that, I turned to my daughter.

  “Are you sure you want me tagging along?”

  Unlike me, Kaitlin didn’t seem apprehensive at all. She looked at me with great certainty. “Mom, you know all the players involved, their motivations, their grudges, and what they are capable of. If that’s not enough, you also have a unique knack for getting results.”

  My daughter grew up hearing stories about my occasional interludes into the private-eye world. I’d always believed that having a strong and frequently stubborn mother as a role model was what drove her to want to become a detective in the first place. Even though she didn’t readily admit it, when it came to her personality, she had far more similarities to me than differences.

  “Unique is definitely a way to describe me. I’m not sure you meant that as a compliment, but I’ve decided to take it as one.”

  “If you’re not up to this, I understand, but know this—I believe you could play a crucial role in solving this case.”

  For a fiercely independent woman like Kaitlin, it was practically unheard of for her to ask for help. The lone-wolf mentality was strong in her, so much that she’d had a seemingly endless turnstile of partners while on the force. Yet, now here she was, asking for my aid.

  The significance of such an unprecedented act was not lost on me. I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d gotten such a vote of confidence from my daughter, nor if I ever would again. Could I really turn it down?

  At the same time, this was about more than just Kaitlin. Ultimately, it was about Sid, getting justice for him, finding his killer, and giving him a chance to truly rest in peace. I searched my gut, curious to see what my instincts were telling me. They were all telling me the same thing. If the roles were reversed, Sid would do anything in his power to find my killer. So, despite my initial reservations, I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t do the same for him.

  While I finished going back and forth in my head, my daughter got tired of waiting for my answer. She forced the issue.

  “So, what do you say?”

  I looked up at her and smiled. “Let’s do it.”

  Chapter Six

  I had a feeling my daughter already regretted asking me to come along. On the job, she was used to doing things a different way--more specifically, her way. It was safe to say we had different tactics. So far, my approach had only served to befuddle her.

  “What are we doing here?” Kaitlin asked.

  To me, certain places didn’t need an explanation. Chocolate shops were one of them. Not just any shop that sold chocolates--this was Trina’s Truffles. She knew how to create the most perfect mix of caramel and chocolate I’d ever tasted.

  Admittedly, I was highly subjective. Trina was my good friend. When I was younger, it was difficult trying to keep from having too many. Now, that wasn’t a problem. When you got to my age, you learned to indulge. If you couldn’t appreciate the finer things in life now, when could you?

  Somehow my daughter was able to stand amidst the display cases of chocolate and look confused as to why we were here.

  I clued her in. “I have my own unique methods for approaching this investigation.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “We’re trying to solve a murder case, not get a sugar high.”

  Foolish Kaitlin. She thought I was only here for the chocolate. It was an easy mistake to make, but still an incorrect assumption nonetheless. I came here for the truffles, but I was hoping to leave with valuable information as well. There was an indisputable fact that my daughter was overlooking. Chocolate shops were bastions for gossip. Some juicy news from the grapevine could sure come in handy right about now.

  “Do you trust your mother?” I asked.

  “Usually, yes.”

  “Good. Keep trusting me.”

  She didn’t take my advice. “In this case, I think your stomach might have gotten the better of you.”

  “I have a feeling your mind will change before we leave here.”

  Her patience had worn dangerously thin. “Mom, we don’t have time for this. A killer is on the loose.”

  I made the lay of the land perfectly clear. “If you want my help, we’re going to do this my way.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why does that not surprise me?”

  “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Kaitlin Marie.”

  Kaitlin gave me a look of shock.

  I surprised even myself with that statement. It had been decades since I’d referenced my daughter’s middle name. I’d left those days behind with her old, sullen, teenage attitude and figured that was where they’d stay. Apparently, they decided to make an unwelcome return.

  It was a truly rare thing for me to middle-name her. Then again, it was also uncharacteristic of her to argue with me so much. Either way, she knew I meant business now and didn’t put up any resistance.

  “All right, what’s your plan, then?” she said.

  “First, we get truffles. Then, we hear what the word on the street is.”

  I could tell she was still harboring doubts about my methods but didn’t dare say them aloud. Instead, she hung back and let me take the lead.

  Trina Gold greeted us from behind the counter, her long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail that accentuated her angular face even more. She wore an apron over her short, full-figured, seventy-one-year-old body. Her smile was wide, and her charisma displayed an enthusiasm that was rare, not just for this hour of the morning, but that typically required a few cups of coffee to attain.

  Her wit was out in full force as well. “Rose, it’s a little early for chocolates, isn’t it?”

  “First of all, it’s never too early for chocolates. Second, I thought you were in the business of selling sweets, not turning away customers.”

  “You know your business means the world to me. That’s why I said it was early for chocolates. Based on your typical schedule, you usually come here as a reward after finishing water aerobics, not during the time that you’re usually in the pool.”

  Had my life become that predictable in my old age, or just my insatiable cravings for sweets? Of course, it was possible that Trina’s powers of observation were far better honed than I realized. If I didn’t already have so much on my mind, I would have pondered that further. As it was, I’d have to wait until this case was solved to add some spice to my life.

  “Let me tell you, today is anything but typical,” I said.

  “Let me guess, this is a Sid-Harper-related early chocolate run,” Trina replied.

  Kaitlin’s jaw nearly dropped. She always did things the hard way. Mind you, it was also the professional way, but sometimes similar results could be achieved by those who didn’t operate quite so by the book. Trina’s life was far more gossip heavy, which could either be hit or miss, but in this circumstance, it was spot on, much to my daughter’s shock.

  “How did you know that?” Kaitlin said.

  I turned to my daughter with my eyebrows raised. “I told you there was a reason we stopped here first.”

  Trina got a lump in her throat. “It’s terrible what happened to Sid.”

  While I could tell that sympathy weighed as heavily on Trina’s heart as it did mine, Kaitlin couldn’t get over her Trina-centric disbelief.

  “It’s very important that you tell me the truth. Trina, how do you know about Sid?” Kaitlin said.

  There was one easy answer for that, which I was quick to share. “Trina knows everything.”

  As humble as Trina was, it was no surprise to me that she got a good chuckle out of my comment and gave a much more understated reply. “Happy Creek isn’t as big of a place as you’d think, so when something like this happens, people talk. I just happen to be really good at listening.”

  “What have people said?” Kaitlin asked.

  Somehow my daughter was able to cast her taste buds aside and give the investigation her full focus once again. To me, it was a cu
rious move, not only because she was able to muster enough willpower to forgo chocolate, but also because she had been critical of even coming into this store in the first place.

  I couldn’t let Kaitlin continue without giving me an explanation.

  “Hold on. A few moments ago, you thought I was ridiculous for even bringing us in here. Now you couldn’t be more gung ho to get information out of Trina.”

  “That’s because I didn’t know Trina had any information,” Kaitlin replied.

  “That’s why you should always listen to your mother. When have I ever steered you wrong?”

  While it didn’t feel inappropriate to boast, I might have been a little hasty in doing so with such a broad stroke. I’d been alive many years, certainly long enough for my daughter to think of at least one occasion when I’d been incorrect. That was why I was quick to revise my statement before I was forced to eat my words.

  “Don’t answer that,” I continued.

  I was glad I did add that follow-up statement. Kaitlin bit her lip and gave me a mischievous look as if she’d recalled a number of my mistakes in the past. Thankfully, she decided to keep them to herself and turned her attention to Trina.

  “It’s you I’d like an answer from,” Kaitlin said.

  With the conversation having gone wildly astray, Trina needed a refresher to get her focus back. “What was the question again?”

  “What have people said about Sid’s murder?” Kaitlin asked.

  Trina replied impartially, like a TV anchor reading the news. “That it could have to do with Peter Widmark’s daughter.”

  I could tell by the lack of energy in her voice that even though she was passing on the news to us, that theory didn’t quite pass muster with her.

  “You think differently?” I said.

  She shrugged her shoulders and then lobbed out a possibility of her own. “It could have just as much to do with Sid dating Olivia Widmark.”

  Stop right there. Hold the presses. I knew Trina had a firm grasp on all the latest gossip in town, but it was the kind of scoop that seemed far beyond even her means. Breaking news like this could blow the whole case wide open.

  I had to admit, even though my hearing was still pretty good for my age, I was in such shock that I needed to have that last statement repeated to me so I could be certain that I’d heard it right.

  “Did you just say Sid was dating Olivia Widmark?”

  Trina nodded. My hunch to stop in at the truffle shop had already proven to be fortuitous, and we were just getting started. The chocolate would just serve as a delicious bonus.

  I couldn’t stress the significance of this news. The Widmark case hinged on the evidence that Sid had procured that proved Olivia’s husband was cheating on her. Now, twenty years later, there Sid was, dating Olivia shortly before he was murdered.

  His involvement with the Widmark case was no longer just as a tangential private eye that had dug up dirt decades before. By dating Olivia, he was suddenly knee deep in the thick of it all. With that single piece of information, this was more than just a matter of people with bad blood coming together for an awkward twenty-year reunion. There were now some fresh wounds to add to the old scars.

  While my mind was still whirring, trying to process all this information, Kaitlin was ready to dig deeper. She addressed Trina again. “How did you know that?”

  “They came into the shop about a week ago, and both looked in dire need of chocolate,” Trina said.

  Kaitlin followed up. “What do you mean, in dire need?”

  “Some of my customers, like Rose, for example, come in for a treat and to gossip with me. It’s a joyous affair, as it should be when it comes to buying chocolate. When Sid and Olivia entered, there was an uneasiness between them, the kind of tension that only came from a couple that had just finished having a fight. Sid tried being extra sweet to her, but she wasn’t really having any of it. She did eat the chocolates he ordered for her, though.”

  Trina’s answer was far from definitive, serving more as a jumping-off point that naturally lent itself to another question.

  Kaitlin didn’t hesitate to ask, narrowly beating me to the punch. “You don’t happen to know what they were fighting about, do you?”

  Trina shook her head. “Sorry. I’m a gossip hound, not a psychic.”

  “What a shame. There’s never a psychic around when you need one,” I said.

  I’d meant it as a joke, but instead of laughing, Trina’s face remained as somber as ever.

  I gave her some words of encouragement. “Keep your chin up. You’ve given us plenty to work with.”

  If anyone should have been discouraged, it should have been me. The tragic circumstances of the day were one thing. What was getting to me now was how complicated this case was shaping up to be. If there weren’t enough layers to this investigation, more kept being added as we went. Besides, Sid was my friend, and he never so much as mentioned Olivia to me, much less in a romantic context. He must have taken great lengths to hide that from me. I didn’t blame him. I would have told him that he was looking for trouble being with Olivia.

  After my urging, Trina tried to look on the bright side. “Yeah, I guess anything is better than nothing.”

  Even though the conversation had proven more fruitful than I even expected, Kaitlin wondered if there were more diamonds waiting to be uncovered.

  “Have you heard any other gossip that could be useful in solving this case?”

  “Not yet, but it’s early still. Things don’t usually heat up around here until after lunch,” Trina replied.

  “Tell me about it. Those two o’clock chocolate cravings come on strong,” I said.

  Kaitlin nudged me, with her eyes focused squarely on the case.

  I took truffles off of my mind for a moment. “Don’t hesitate to give me a call if you hear something, and I mean anything.”

  “Trust me, you’ll be the first person I call,” Trina said.

  Kaitlin began making her way to the exit. “Ok. Well, we should be going.”

  My daughter’s tunnel vision was doing her a grave disservice. While the case was important, to ignore her taste buds was just foolish.

  I stopped her. “Are you kidding? We’re not going anywhere without chocolate.”

  Chapter Seven

  With scrumptious truffles in our bellies, we set off, ready to stare down the great unknown. Kaitlin was determined to make Olivia Widmark’s house her next stop. As we approached Maple Street, I had a different idea.

  “Turn here,” I said.

  My daughter crinkled her nose with confusion. “Why?”

  “I want to take a look at the scene of the crime.”

  Kaitlin became argumentative. “My forensics team has already gone over every inch of that scene.”

  “I haven’t.”

  That didn’t calm her down in the least. If anything, it only made her defensive about her co-workers. “What do you think you’re going to find that they didn’t?”

  If she didn’t like my previous answer, she was really going to dislike this one. It wasn’t the best time to tell her that I was flying by the seat of my pants, but it was the truth, so I came out with it. “Maybe I won’t find anything. Then again, perhaps I will. I can’t give you the answer right now. All I can do is pose this question--what’s the harm in heading over there?”

  “There’s no harm. I just don’t see the point of it is all.”

  “The point is that my instincts are telling me to head over there. You follow your instincts, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  She answered through gritted teeth. Kaitlin’s frustration with me kept growing to peculiar levels. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. Her annoyance was simply irrational to me.

  Ultimately, it didn’t matter if her bad attitude made sense to me or not. I had my instincts and was going to stick to them, regardless of whether it ruffled her feathers. “Do you want my help or not?”

  “Of course I do
.”

  “Then turn onto Oak Street.”

  She exhaled.

  Finally, it dawned on me why she was so bent out of shape. I had a serious stubborn streak that seven decades of life hadn’t even softened, much less shaken from me. Kaitlin had inherited that stubbornness from me, even building on it somewhat. Watching me refuse to give in tested her boundaries, which was both unfamiliar and unwelcome territory for her.

  She was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted. Around me, she knew she couldn’t. At the same time, she couldn’t afford to dive into this case without me either. For someone who hated yielding control, it was an unenviable position to be in. Hence, all her frustration.

  I gave her one last push. “You didn’t see the point of going into the chocolate shop, and look how that turned out. Why don’t you give this a go?”

  Surprisingly, she gave in. “Okay. We’ll do it your way.”

  Chapter Eight

  Kaitlin parked in front of Sid’s house and took me beyond the yellow caution tape that blocked off his porch and front door. As we went inside the two-story blue colonial, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew that nothing would ever be the same again. I certainly would never be able to look at this place in the light that I once did.

  There was no escaping the fact that this was no longer just my old friend’s house. It was now an active crime scene. Even when this case was eventually closed, it would always possess two different histories. Right then, one was much stronger than the other.

  The memories I had of sitting on the porch with Sid drinking lemonade and laughing about life were nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a tension, an eeriness that hung in the air, akin to when I visited a haunted house during Halloween when I was a teenager.

  Back then, those scares were staged for entertainment purposes. This was real, and infinitely spookier. At the same time, it was all psychological. We hadn’t even entered the house yet, much less seen anything grisly. That was what scared me the most--there was no telling what was behind that door.