The Sweet Taste of Murder: An Angel Lake Mystery

by CeeCee James

  Elise decided not to take the bait, instead, she set the riesling bottle on its side to roll down the belt. “It is what it is. Now, how about Herman? Was he a friend?”

  “No.” Annie snorted like Elise was a few walnuts short of a fruit cake. “He was Cameron’s buddy. A little doxie. Went everywhere with that man. Even on car rides. Just sat in the passenger seat as happy as could be.”

  “Unless you got on his bad side,” Lavina interjected.

  “That’s true. That little bugger could carry a grudge longer than my ex-mother-in-law, but he was the friendliest thing with Cameron and his wife. But you didn’t want to cross him, or you were in danger of losing a finger.”

  “What a peach.” Elise laughed.

  Annie scanned the box popcorn before turning it over to look at the ingredients. “This ain’t natural,” she said before bagging it with a disapproving look on her face.

  She scanned the toilet paper. “You know, we have the generic on sale right over there.”

  Elise shook her head slightly. “I’m okay.”

  “You’re paying three times as much for this one.” Annie shook the rolls to punctuate.

  “It’s okay. I like this brand.” Elise replied.

  “Hoity-toity bum to match your husband, I guess.” Annie sniffed and discarded the toilet paper in the bag as if it were reprehensible.

  Lavina shot a look at Elise and powered on. “So, back to Herman. He’s missing?”

  The distraction worked. The next few items were scanned with scarcely a look. “He disappeared the day Cameron died.”

  “Did he run away? Get lost?”

  Annie shook her head. “Nope. His collar was left on the floor of the dealership.” Her watery gray eyes widened. “Just the collar lying there all innocent like.”

  “So, you think someone took him?”

  “Sure enough, someone did. He witnessed the crime.”

  Elise frowned. “How’d you hear that this was crime?”

  Annie laughed. “Being married to a lawyer sure didn’t smarten you up none. You tell me why a rich man like Cameron would kill himself? That man had more money than brains, and he warn’t stupid. He had the entire town eating out of the palm of his hand.” Annie lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. “And that includes more than half the women.”

  Lavina rolled her eyes.

  “It’s true. And he’d let them. Except for one. Poor lady. The last few weeks of his life he treated her just as cold as ice.”

  “His wife?”

  “No, he was always kind to her as far as I saw. I’m talking about his secretary. He treated her like she could drop dead there at his feet and he’d step right over her body.”

  “When did you first notice this?” Elise listened carefully.

  “Probably two months ago. She was standing in that aisle right over there.” The cashier indicated the back of the store with her thumb.

  Elise turned her head. “Which one?”

  “That one. Aisle eight. That’s the feminine product aisle.” Annie’s voice lowered into a hushed whisper. “She was at the end where the pregnancy tests are.”

  “That ain’t no news that Sylvia’s pregnant.” Lavina sniffed. “After all, she’s married.”

  “She’s married alright.” Annie retorted sharply. “But that didn’t stop her head turning when Cameron came around.”

  “You’re saying she cheated on Frank? How on earth would you know this?” Lavina looked genuinely shocked.

  Annie shrugged. “You hear things in a small town. Besides, I’d seen with my own eyes the two of them sneaking into his car one night. They went behind the storage units and were getting busy, if you know what I mean.”

  Elise frowned. “What were you doing behind the storage units?”

  “I saw the nose of that black Mercedes as I was driving by and thought it might be stolen. Had to turn around and look.”

  “How do you know that baby isn’t Frank’s?”

  “Rumor has it Frank ain’t so good in the baby making department. Last I heard they were heading towards adoption.” She smirked. “Doubt that’s in the cards anymore. Probably more likely headed for divorce. That poor girl got dumped by both Cameron and her husband. Who knows what will happen now.”

  “Annie, that’s just awful!” Lavina’s face was red. “You’re spreading rumors.”

  “These ain’t rumors! He was firing blanks. Now, his wife is all swelled up with a baby. He knows! And, what makes it worse is that there’s always been bad blood between those two men. I remember two years ago when they got into a squabble outside Ben’s Bar and Grill. Seems to me that fight was real nasty.”

  “That was a crazy fight,” Lavina interjected. “I remember Frank popped one off and hit Cameron straight in the mouth.”

  “He turned and ran before Cameron caught his balance,” Annie continued. “Frank was always more a chicken than a rooster. Well, having his wife pregnant probably fueled his courage. I sure think a positive pregnancy test sounds like a motive for murder to me.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Tuesday was setting up to be a good day. After endless nagging, Elise decided to finally take Lavina’s advice and get a hair cut. She really did need something new to recognize the changes in her life, and was pleased they could see her right away.

  Before she knew it, she was draped in a black plastic cloth and being led to the sink. Several older women sat under hair dryers, their hair pinned up in curls. Since returning to her hometown, Elise sometimes felt as if she’d taken a step back in time. As if the move could erase the ten years she’d been married.

  If only it were that easy. She touched the dip in her wedding finger. The divorce was to be finalized in just two weeks. She knew she should feel happy but felt grief instead.

  Shake it off. She smiled at the beautician. Carla was her name, a cute twenty-something gal with purple tips in her hair. Maybe not a total step back in time after all.

  Just as she was being seated, the bell above the door rang.

  “Sylvia?” a deep male voice called out.

  “She ain’t here, Frank. You leave her be!” One of the other beauticians yelled back.

  Frank narrowed his eyes before yanking the door closed so hard the bells threatened to fall off.

  “Well, there goes some bad news.” Carla primly pressed her lips together. “I always knew he was up to no good.”

  Elise could barely hear with the water running over her head. She squirmed in the chair, wishing Carla would hurry up. Her neck ached against the sink.

  Water sprayed across her face as the beautician momentarily lost control of the hose. “Carla!” Elise squinted up at her.

  “I’m sorry, love.” Carla leaned over her, giving Elise a whiff of some very stale floral perfume. She came back with a towel and patted the water off Elise’s face.

  The patting was worse than the spray. She could only imagine what her mascara looked like now.

  “That’s Frank, huh? I’ve never seen him before,” Elise finally managed to say once the terry-cloth torture was over.

  Carla helped her back up and followed her to the chair. “Yep, that’s Frank. He’s been nothing but trouble ever since he moved here.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He came here after just getting released from jail. Nobody would hire him. So, he ended up moving to the west end of town and starting up some shady business.”

  “What was he arrested for?”

  “He stole somebody’s car.”

  Elise felt her eyebrows raise. A car thief who hated a car dealer. Seemed like a small world. “What does he do now for work?”

  “He finally got Old Tom from the pest control place to hire him. Tom owns RatsOut.”

  Elise straightened in the chair, remembering the toxicology report.

  Carla sniffed. “He’s just darn lucky anyone was willing to hire him with his background.” She reached for a comb from her drawer. Carefully, she began to draw it through Elise�
�s hair. A snarl appeared, and Carla leaned for her conditioning spray, giving Elise another uncomfortable wash of perfume. “I’m surprised Cameron didn’t have him run out of town a long time ago.” She spritzed the bottled and continued with the comb.

  Elise winced as Carla worked on a snarl. “Why do you say that?”

  “They had some bad blood a while back. Actually got into a fight outside Ben’s Bar and Grill. The rumor has it there was a gun, but by the time the cops got there, they’d both disappeared. And, of course, nobody seen nothing.”

  Like a magician, Carla whipped out some hair clips from her never-empty pockets. She pinned up Elise’s hair and grabbed for her scissors.

  “A fight?” Elise nodded her head a smidgeon. “I heard about this the other day.”

  “It was over quick. Sally was there.” Carla yelled across the salon to the other beautician. “Hey, Sally? You remember that fight outside the bar and grill last year?”

  Sally looked up with a gossip rag in her hand. Her bored expression lifted slightly, and she stood up from the stool behind the counter.

  “How could I forget. Jacob was the one who broke them up.”

  “That’s Sally’s boyfriend,” Carla whispered down at Elise. “He sure did, honey! He did real good. Do you remember anything about it?”

  “Well, I was still inside, so I didn’t hear much. But Jacob said that Frank was yelling about how he wasn’t taking any more of that. And Cameron shoved him right in his face and said he’d see him tonight.”

  “Cameron hit him first?” Elise asked.

  “I wouldn’t say hit him, more like a steam shovel to the face. Just pushed him right over. Then Cameron went scrambling inside his jacket, and Jacob says he saw a gun. But by then all the bar was emptying so Frank just up and ran off.”

  “Was there a police report?” Slowly, her chair was being spun away from the mirror. Elise tried not to be anxious. It was just a trim. Surely it was going to be okay. Her gaze dropped to the floor where an alarming length of her hair had just fluttered down.

  “What was there to report?” Sally shrugged. The phone rang, and she meandered back to her post.

  “See, it was soon after that Frank got arrested for stealing a car. They sent him away for eight months. Then his ol’ lady started to work for Cameron.”

  “Cameron hired his enemy’s wife? That doesn’t make any sense. She worked with him the whole time?”

  “First time she ever had a real job, as far as I know. Poor thing, I don’t know what she’s going to do now. No one understood why he hired her in the first place. It’s like I told ya. Cameron was up to no good. Good riddance, I say, like the rest of the town. Fate has a funny way of fixing ya.”

  “Everyone’s been saying it wasn’t a suicide.” Elise said.

  “Suicide nothing. I heard he was foaming at his mouth, and his throat had claw marks.” Carla flicked her hand out in the air, her nails curled downward. “Just gives me the shivers, to think of dying like that.” She pulled the comb through Elise’s hair again and made a few more careful snips.

  “You sure know a lot about all of this.”

  “You just haven’t known where to go for gossip. I’ve always got the good stuff. Ain’t that true, Sally?” Her fingers flew through Elise’s hair fluffing it up, as Sally yelled back an affirmative. “There. That looks so nice. Everything put back to right.”

  “Put back to right?”

  “Yep. I cut the hair until it’s just right. Like doing a math problem. Can’t stop until it’s perfect. Hair cutting has been the only thing to really help me with my OCD ways.” Carla reached for the hair dryer and a round brush.

  With the dryer going Elise settled back into her thoughts. So, if it was true Cameron was murdered, why was no one else talking about it?

  Carla quickly spun the chair back to face the mirror.

  “Honey, you like that? What do you think?”

  Elise felt her eyes widen. Definitely not a trim. Cautiously she reached up to touch her newly layered cut, resting now just against her collarbones. Mark would’ve freaked if she’d ever cut her hair this short before.

  “Shake it, honey. See how it feels.”

  Elise gave her head a slow shake. The hair moved and settled back into perfect waves. A smile crept across her face. “I love it.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Elise rounded the corner and jogged up the street lined with quaint houses and white picket fences. Gingerbread Lane, she’d called it as a kid, and had always wanted to live there. Quickly, she jogged past three brown houses and one brick to turn down her friend’s driveway.

  Lavina sat on the porch wearing a wide brimmed sunhat. She lifted a frosted glass of tea in greeting as Elise puffed up the stairs.

  “Well, now. That’s a cute little haircut. Finally decided to doll yourself up, I see.” Lavina cast a critical eye at Elise’s yoga pants. “But we must do something about your wardrobe choice.”

  Elise flipped her hair off her shoulder and shook it, relishing the cool breeze on the back of her neck. “I’ll admit, I love it. And you leave my clothing alone.”

  “You look a bit hot, darlin’. You run all the way here? I don’t know what’s gotten into you with all this exercising business.” Lavina wrinkled her nose. “Makes you all sweaty and stuff. Sweet tea?”

  “How’d you know I was coming?” Elise collapsed onto the wooden steps with a sigh. Leaning back against the porch pillar, she eyed the extra glass as Lavina filled it from the pitcher.

  “Oh, honey, I knew someone would be showing up, and I always like to be prepared.” She passed the glass down to Elise. “If the goal was to get your new hairdo hot and sweaty, well sugar, there are better ways. Now, what else have you been up to today?”

  “Just trying to get ready for that 5k next month. By the way, I heard some good gossip at the hair salon today. You know that guy, Frank? The one the grocery clerk was talking about? Works at the pest control?”

  “Oh, sure. I know Frank. He used to work at the gas station. The last time I saw him, he gave me a wink like there was no tomorrow. He shone his flashlight in my face and offered to check under my hood.” Lavina sniffed. “Of course, I told him where he could stick his teeny weenie Maglite.”

  “Lavina!” Elise laughed. “You are such a flirt.”

  Lavina puckered her lips for a fresh application of Auburn Red glossy lipstick. “Now, don’t be jealous. It’s not a good look for you.”

  “Jealous of what?”

  “I’ve still got it. And, you are the one in definite need of a man.” Lavina ran her fingers through her hair before scrunching up one of her red curls.

  Elise rolled her eyes. “Anyway, according to the gossip, they think he might have killed Cameron.”

  “Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving man.”

  “You are insufferable. The point is, do you think Frank knocked him off? Because we already have a half-a-dozen why’s.”

  Lavina nodded. “A glorious man like that? Hard to believe.” She counted reasons off on her fingers. “Scum bag. Cheat. Fraud. Misogynistic. Cheapskate. Abandoned his child. Correction, children.”

  “He may be all those things.” Elise sighed. “Never mind, he was all those things. But did he deserve to be dumped like a mud slurping carp into a Mercedes to be hit by a train?”

  Lavina arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “It does seem fitting.”

  “Speaking of fitting, Sylvia’s going to have your sibling. You ever think about that?”

  Lavina stared down at her with dark rimmed eyes. “Elise, I am far too old to get a sibling.”

  “But that’s what’s happening. It has nothing to do with age.”

  Lavina sighed and rested back into her chair. She tapped her long nails irritably on the table.

  Elise took a sip of tea. The frosty sweetness rolled over her tongue with just a hint of lemon. “Mmm.” She licked her lips appreciatively. “I’ll have to admit, you sure know how to make sweet tea
. Almost as good as Grandma Babe’s.”

  “She still coming by your place?”

  Grandma Babe was the owner of the small Mom and Pop restaurant down on Main Street, tucked in between an antique store and a cupcake shop. She made the best biscuits and gravy this side of the state line. She was also Elise’s neighbor and convinced Elise was starving. Every Wednesday she came over with a plastic tote filled with the week’s various leftover dishes that Elise dutifully filed in her freezer. For this Elise paid Grandma Babe a measly sum and gave her the satisfaction that the poor skinny neighbor girl would be fed for another week.

  Win-win in Elise’s eyes.

  “Yeah.” Elise took another sip. A little chink of concern rifled through her. Today was Wednesday. She needed to get back home soon in case Grandma Babe came early.

  “Well, you sure have it sweet,” Lavina murmured. “I don’t know how you’ve always done it. You’ve always had people looking after you.”

  Elise smiled and shrugged as an answer.

  The breeze picked up and ruffled the pinky-white blooms of the magnolia tree out front. Elise was watching the flowers when a police car turned onto the street. It quickly grabbed the attention of both women.

  “Well, what’s he driving all slow like that for?” Lavina asked.

  They straightened slightly as the car stopped in front of the driveway.

  Brad Carter stepped out, making his muscles flex as he shut the door. Elise sucked in her breath. He immediately tucked down the front of his shirt and pushed his shoulders back as he walked up to the steps.

  Elise raised her eyebrows at Lavina and whispered, “Mmmm.”

  “Not bad, huh?”

  “He looks a lot different from high school, that’s for sure.”

  “Ten years and time spent in Iraq will do that to a person.”

  “Miss Lavina Chantly?” Brad asked, reaching the porch.

  “Why, hello there, Detective Carter,” Lavina answered in a smoky voice. “You drop by for a glass of sweet tea?”

  He cleared his throat, his gaze taking in Elise for a moment, then back to Lavina. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”