by Lyndsey Cole
Jason sat up straight. “Maybe the affair started just before she was hired and he decided not to look into her background. At some point, he might have wanted to end the relationship so as not to jeopardize his marriage.”
Annie’s eyes opened wide. “Maybe she did do it. But where is she? Why would she hang around at all if she killed him?”
“Annie, you know what questions to ask but who has the answers?”
She stood up. “One thing we can do now is compare those earrings hiding under my couch pillows with the earrings in the photographs I took of Matt’s jewelry. He said there were two identical sets made, the stolen set and the set Flo has.”
Chapter 20
Before Annie opened her apartment door, Tyler drove into the driveway with Detective Crank. Jason put his hand on Annie’s arm, “I’ll handle this.”
Jason walked down the stairs. “Good afternoon. Can I help you?”
Detective Crank looked Jason up and down. “Who are you?”
“Jason Hunter. This is my house. You must be the new detective I’ve been hearing about.”
Cranky put one hand on her hip. “I bet you’ve been hearing about me. And I’m guessing it’s nothing good if it’s coming from your friend smirking at the top of the stairs.”
Tyler stepped in. “Jason, we need to ask Annie some questions.” He led the way up the stairs to where Annie stood with one hand on her doorknob. “Can we come in?”
“How about we talk out here?”
Cranky pushed ahead of Tyler. “Hiding something, Ms. Fisher?”
Annie got in Cranky’s face. “What is it with you? Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”
Jason took matters into his hands again and unlocked Annie’s door. “Yes, by all means, come on in.”
Annie scowled at Jason as Tyler and Cranky walked into her apartment. “Nice handling,” she whispered with her back to the police.
By the time Annie and Jason entered, Detective Crank was pulling up the cushions on Annie’s sofa. She picked up the box of earrings and turned around with a grin from ear to ear. “Care to explain?”
Annie’s mouth fell open, hoping she looked genuinely surprised. “I have no idea what that is.”
Cranky walked right up to Annie, so close her breath made Annie’s hair move. “I don’t believe you.”
Jason stepped between the two women. “Camilla broke into Annie’s apartment last night, maybe she hid it there.”
Cranky stood on her tippy toes and tried to get in Jason’s face but only came to his chin and turned back to Annie instead. “You never reported that.”
Tyler finally said something. “Annie did call me that Camilla showed up. She can’t be faulted for Camilla’s disappearance.” Annie decided he was intimidated by this petite annoying cockroach just as much as she was.
Annie held her hand out. “Can I at least see what’s in the box?”
Detective Crank glared but opened the box for Annie. “Have you seen these before?”
“As a matter of fact, I saw a pair of earrings exactly like those this morning.” She turned her camera on and showed Tyler and Detective Crank the photographs she took for Matt Austin. “Mr. Austin told me two diamond necklace and earring sets were made. One set was stolen and the other set in these photographs belongs to his wife.”
Detective Crank snapped the earring box shut. “I doubt they are identical. The necklace I found in your gallery is a fake. I suspect these earrings match that necklace which makes the set, more or less, worthless.”
Annie was shocked for real with that bit of information. “Matt Austin told me they couldn’t be sold since everything in the Sparkle Me series is supposed to be one of a kind. I wonder if the truth is that they don’t want potential customers to know there is fake Sparkle Me jewelry floating around.” Annie glanced at Tyler. “Have you found out anything more about Camilla’s real identity?”
Tyler answered, “Just the name, Kellie Richards. Why?”
“Well, we discovered that she was expelled from art school for stealing another student’s design ideas.”
Tyler shrugged. “That’s not relevant except to reinforce her questionable behavior.”
Annie took a gamble and asked what she really wanted to know. “How about the murder weapon, who does that belong to?”
Tyler answered before Detective Crank could stop him. “The gun is registered to Flo Austin. But before you jump to any conclusions, she reported it stolen a week before the murder.”
“So there’s still evidence pointing to all of them.” Annie walked around Detective Crank and looked out her window. “Have you considered the possibility that whoever murdered John Holland was, in fact, defending herself? Maybe John was planning to murder Camilla and it went wrong.”
Detective Crank opened the door to leave. “You watch too many mysteries on TV. Let us do our job. And if Camilla, or Kellie, or whatever she’s calling herself now, shows up for these,” Cranky held up the jewelry box, “call us before you do anything else.”
Annie refrained from saluting Detective Crank, instead, nodding as the two officers left. “Do you think she ever lets her hair down and has any fun?” Annie asked Jason.
“If she lets her hair down, she won’t look so scary. I don’t know about the fun part though.”
A car drove in and Annie heard Leona’s voice holler, “Anybody home?”
“So much for any quiet time. We better get back to your house and finish up the preparations for Martha’s wedding.”
Leona and Mia were busy unloading the car and carrying boxes into Jason’s house. On the way by, Annie and Jason each grabbed a box and followed them inside.
“Wow. Looks great! You two must have been busy all day,” Leona said as she stood and took in Jason’s decorated house.
“Well,” Annie started before Jason elbowed her.
“It didn’t take as long as you would think. Put everything on the kitchen counters for unpacking.” Jason led the way and placed his box next to the sink.
After all the boxes were transferred inside, Leona leaned on the counter. “Is Martha definitely showing up? I don’t feel like putting in the effort for nothing.”
Annie laughed. “Definitely is a strong word. My guess is more likely than not the wedding will go forward. In any case, she’ll be here for a good time even if Harry bails on her.”
“Okay, we’ve got less than an hour to arrange all the food, what’s the plan?” Leona asked Jason.
He pointed to his big dining room table that had been moved closer to the wall for easier access as a buffet. “Is my table big enough to fit everything?”
Leona opened the biggest box. “I’ll start with the most important stuff and, if necessary, we’ll move that small table closer.”
With Leona directing the others, the food filled the table and then some in short order. Jason reached for a spinach quiche square to sample but Leona slapped his hand.
“I expected that so I’ve got an assorted platter I’ll leave in the kitchen for sampling before the others get here.”
“How many people are you expecting?” Annie swept her hand over the table. “This is enough food for fifty people.” Her eyes hungrily took in the delicious array of quiches, assorted puff pastries, stuffed tomatoes, grilled zucchini on baguette slices and items Annie couldn’t identify without sampling.
Leona carried the last item to the table. “This is my masterpiece,” she said as she set the eye catching centerpiece in the center of everything.
Annie gasped. “You didn’t. I’m not sure Martha will see the humor in that.
Leona shrugged. “We’ll find out. Harry ordered it and it took me hours to make. What do you all think?”
Annie, Jason and Mia stared at Leona’s ice carving of two love birds and they all burst out laughing. “It’s gorgeous and so appropriate.”
“Okay then, we have ten minutes to spare before anyone is due to show up. How about we sample the wine and some of the appeti
zers on the platter?” Leona didn’t wait for anyone to agree to her plan. She had four wine glasses poured and held up her glass. “To Martha. I hope she shows up.”
As if on cue, the door opened and a distraught Martha walked in. The tears streaming down her face threatened to spoil her cream silk dress.
“What’s wrong?” Annie asked as she rushed to Martha’s side.
Through her sobs, she managed to explain the disaster. “Harry called me in a panic. Charlie and Bob are missing.”
Chapter 21
Annie helped Martha to a chair. “There must be a logical explanation. Is Harry on his way?”
Martha nodded and sniffled, dabbing her eyes with a lacey handkerchief carrying a faint scent of lavender. “He should be here any minute, but he won’t have the ceremony without Bob standing next to him as his best man.”
Jake and Tess arrived, giggling and entwined in each other’s arms. Annie noticed a distinct odor when they walked in front of her and she realized they were both high on marijuana.
Jake reached for some food on the table but Leona slapped him away. “This is for after the ceremony. Go out on the porch, I left a tray of food there to tide you over.”
Tyler walked in with JC and her son, Dylan. Annie wished she could keep her distance from Tyler but he was friends with Martha, and as justice of the peace he was performing the ceremony. At least his sidekick, Detective Cranky, wouldn’t be in attendance.
Dylan rushed to the food table. “Look at the birds. They’re made out of ice. How cool is that?”
Martha glanced at the ice sculpture and burst into another fit of tears.
Leona looked at Annie and mouthed the words, “What are we going to do?”
Fortunately, Harry arrived and was in much better shape than Martha. “Disaster averted,” he said. “Bob is on his way.”
“What about Charlie?” Martha asked between snuffles.
Harry shrugged. “We’ll find out soon enough.” He tenderly put his hand on Martha’s shoulder. “I thought you didn’t like him anyway?”
“But you do,” she sobbed.
He continued to pat her shoulder, looking completely and utterly clueless about how to console Martha. Fortunately, he was saved when the door opened and Bob walked in carrying a big bird cage.
Jason shrugged at Annie and held both hands palm up.
“That explains that,” Harry said. “Why the devil did you bring Charlie here?”
Bob pouted. “The invitation said to bring a date. Who else could I bring?”
Annie held her hand over her mouth to cover the laughter that threatened to escape, but she didn’t want to embarrass Bob. The event was spiraling into something for the memory book at least. Roxy sat in front of Annie looking up with her head cocked. “Never saw a parrot before? Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re on his list of acceptable food.”
Bob looked around the room. “So, shall we get the show on the road? Charlie’s got a surprise for everyone.” Bob walked to the fireplace area, opened Charlie’s cage and let him hop onto the back of the chair next to the beautiful lily arrangements. He proceeded to pull on the lily petals, almost knocking the whole vase over.
A laugh managed to squeak from Annie and Jason jabbed her. “Get a grip. Aren’t you the maid of honor? Go help the bride,” he whispered as he hurried to move the flowers.
Annie managed to get her feet moving in Martha’s direction and helped her into the bathroom. “Here’s a washcloth. Try to wipe the tears away.”
Martha leaned over the sink, staring into the mirror. “I can’t get married with my eyes red and puffy.” She almost started to cry again but Annie soaked the washcloth in cold water and handed it to Martha.
“Here, hold this on your eyes to get rid of some of the puffiness.” Annie smoothed Martha’s silk dress. “Turn around, let me take a look.”
Martha turned her back to the mirror and Annie intended to keep it that way. “Much better. Are you ready?”
Martha nodded. Annie stuck her head out and nodded to Jason to let the others know Martha was coming out.
As she stepped from the bathroom, Charlie, in his parrot voice, hummed the song Here Comes the Bride, squawking after each line.
It was all Annie could do to keep a straight face, walking slowly with Martha to the beat of Charlie’s humming. Fortunately, the walk from the bathroom to where Harry, Bob and Charlie waited in front of the fireplace wasn’t far. Unfortunately, when Harry took Martha’s hand and Annie stood in her place next to Martha, Charlie kept humming. He bobbed his head back and forth, moving along the back of the chair from one side to the other.
Tyler, the justice of peace, read his words quickly with Charlie humming the whole time in the background. At the words, you may kiss the bride, Charlie flapped his wings and squawked. Harry wrapped his arms around Martha, kissing her while everyone finally let their laughter erupt.
When Martha turned around, she had tears in her eyes, but they were tears of happiness this time. “I bet no one can beat this!”
Bob had enough sense to bribe Charlie back into his cage with some grapes which kept him happy and quiet for a few minutes. Once his snack was gone, he started humming again and adding I love Martha, every few seconds. Bob carried the cage to the porch.
Martha and Harry filled their plates first and made themselves comfortable on the couch. Once everyone had food, Leona walked around with a tray of champagne flutes. Annie was curious how Bob would top Charlie’s performance with his best man’s speech, but he didn’t even try. He raised his glass, welcoming Martha into their family. Annie’s hand went to her heart and felt how touching the words were coming from a gruff man like Bob.
Martha sat like a queen on the couch, smiling at all her friends. “Thanks all of you for always being supportive.”
Leona jabbed Annie and pushed her to the front.
Annie raised her glass. “To Martha. You’re one of a kind and I couldn’t be happier to call you my dear friend.” She looked directly at Harry. “You’ve found a diamond, make sure she always sparkles.”
Charlie, not to be outdone, let out one last “I love Martha.” Roxy, who had been quiet through the whole event, woofed, getting the last word in before everyone burst out laughing again, enjoying what a special and unusual event they were fortunate to be a part of.
The food and champagne disappeared and the buzz of conversation never stopped. Leona moved her ice sculpture love birds to the fern garden at the side of Jason’s house to finish out their life as they continued to melt. She cleared the food and got the cheesecake ready to cut.
Martha was a tad tipsy by the time Leona put the cake knife in her hand. “Come on Harry. We need to do this together.” Harry stood behind Martha, placing his hand over hers as they sliced through the berries and into the cheesecake. As Martha lifted a piece to feed to Harry, something shiny caught her eye.
“What is this?” She held the bite of berries and cheesecake in the palm of her hand and plucked out a diamond.
Tyler immediately shifted to his police mode and took the diamond from Martha. “Leona? How did this get in your cheesecake?”
Leona’s eyes bugged out. “I don’t know. Cheesecake is the last place I’d put a beautiful diamond like that. I’d be wearing it for everyone to see; not risk having someone swallow it and sue me.”
“I don’t think it was in the cheesecake,” Martha said, “it was in the berries. One of the strawberries.”
Tyler looked from Leona to Annie with one brow cocked up in question. “How did it get into your strawberries?”
Annie replied, “Those were frozen berries. Someone must have gone into the freezer and hid it in one of the containers.”
“If you know where Camilla is, this would be the perfect time to tell me,” Tyler hissed at Annie. “Every time something happens, you’ve been the first person to know about it. I’m starting to agree with Detective Crank—it’s too much of a coincidence.”
Annie tried to thin
k of something to say but was at a complete loss for words. Tyler, of all people—someone she knew her whole life and had even been engaged to—was the last person she expected would suspect her of any wrongdoing. She had to figure out how to make this right and get rid of all the suspicion.
Chapter 22
Annie watched Tyler snap his phone shut and wiggle his finger for her to come closer. “Get Leona. I’m meeting Detective Crank at the Black Cat Café in ten minutes to go through Leona’s freezer.”
Annie hissed, “Can’t this wait? Martha just got married. I’m her maid of honor.”
“What, and let you or Leona clean out any evidence before we have time to search?”
“Tyler Johnson. What has happened to you? You are the chief of police, not that,” Annie sputtered for a description, “that sorry excuse of a detective.” She practically spit out the words. “Has she brainwashed you?”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed. His jaw clenched. “You’re lucky we have a history. Get Leona. This is not negotiable.”
Leona wasn’t quiet with her outrage, yelling at Tyler to have some consideration for Martha’s event.
Jason calmly took both Leona and Annie by the elbows and led them out the door. “Just go get it over with. The sooner you quit arguing, the sooner you’ll be back.”
Tyler turned to Jason and said, “Thank you Jason.”
Jason didn’t respond.
“I’ll follow you,” Annie said, getting into her car and slamming the door. She turned toward Leona after she backed out of the driveway. “I was so looking forward to your Very Buried Cheesecake.”
When their eyes met, they both burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. “Darn,” Leona said. “If I found that diamond, I wouldn’t have said a word and we wouldn’t be heading back to the café with your ex and his cranky partner.”
“Yeah, Detective Cranky. If my last name was Crank, I would have changed it in a heartbeat. I bet I’m not the first one to call her Cranky. It’s probably why she’s such a sourpuss.”
