Almonds and Arson

by Allyssa Mirry

Lydia knew it was approaching evening hours and the time of Daniel’s date. She decided that she would try and talk to Claudio Ozmore. It was possible that Claudio had wanted to be the highest bid at the bachelor auction so badly that he had killed for it. Maybe Trina had been right when she said that a shirtless firefighter would raise a ton of money. Maybe Claudio wanted to get rid of the competition. He had been the one onstage at the time that the fire had been spotted and she and Leo had rushed to the door. Maybe this had been part of an alibi that he was establishing.

  Lydia went through the different scenarios in her head, examining this as a motive. The singer would have to be a narcissist, but it was possible if Walt wasn’t exaggerating too much.

  “Well, it’s worth talking to him,” she muttered to herself. “And talking to a potential suspect is better than sitting around wondering if Daniel is enjoying himself on his date and what Amber is trying to do.”

  She reached the address that she had found for Claudio Ozmore. It was a large property that looked as if a recording studio was attached to it. She went up to the front door and knocked.

  It was soon opened by a man who was slightly shorter than average who was wearing a gold robe.

  “Claudio Ozmore?” Lydia asked, realizing she had never seen him in person.

  “I know. Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s really me,” he replied with a grin. “Now, who are you, and what do you want? Are you a fan or are you selling something?”

  “Neither exactly.”

  “Not a fan? Then, you must never have heard me sing.”

  “Actually, that is true. I’ve been a bit out of the local music scene. I’ve been busy with… other endeavors,” Lydia said instead of mentioning candy making and murder.

  Instead of bragging anymore, Claudio burst out into song. It wasn’t one that she recognized, but she did immediately recognize his talent.

  “You’re impressed,” he said.

  She nodded. “I am.”

  “Do you want an autograph? I have some extras from the bachelor auction.”

  “Sure,” Lydia said, knowing it could be used for fingerprint or handwriting analysis if she gave it to Leo. “And it’s because of the bachelor auction that I’m here.”

  “How sweet,” Claudio said, signing a headshot and handing it over. “You wanted to win the date with me, but were outbid? You’re here to see about a date?”

  “I’m here to see if you saw anything suspicious that day that could explain the arson that occurred.”

  Claudio eyed her more warily. “Well, I didn’t expect that when I answered the door. But I suppose I can help you out. No. I didn’t notice anything suspicious. I suppose there were a large amount of overly tall men that were bachelors that day. But that has nothing to do with a murder.”

  “Overly tall?” asked Lydia.

  “Didn’t you notice? Why almost all the bachelors were close to six feet tall. The cruise ship captain, the lifeguard, the doctor. Asking around, it seems like the firefighter was tall too. There were no men of average height like myself there at all.”

  Lydia knew that he was shorter than average, but it seemed like he was self-conscious about it. Perhaps that had been why he was so desperate to be the highest bid bachelor of the night.

  “Now that you mention it, everyone did seem too tall,” Lydia agreed.

  Claudio smiled. “I don’t know if you saw, but I did raise the highest amount of money with my date. The women of Ocean Point seem to value talent as well as good looks.”

  “Right.”

  “But I’m afraid I didn’t notice anything else that could be helpful in determining what happened. Are you an insurance investigator or something like that?”

  “Something like that,” Lydia agreed. “Would you mind telling me where you were before the bachelor auction that day?”

  “I suppose not. It’s not a secret, and I had nothing to do with any fire. I was meeting with a man, Mr. Burns, to discuss a new property. I’m thinking of expanding to a larger home. I don’t know if Ocean Point will continue to serve my needs. I was sending him to search for some other properties along the shore in different towns.”

  “His last name was Burns?” asked Lydia.

  “Yes. Pete Burns.”

  “The day of the fire Pete Burns was out of town looking at properties for you?”

  “Well, I can’t evaluate them on my own. I’m merely a singer with an angelic voice.”

  “Thank you for answering my questions and for the autograph,” Lydia said.

  “Always happy to help a fan,” he said before closing the door.

  Lydia walked away, lost in thought. She had certainly gained some information from this interview, but it wasn’t at all what she thought it might be.

  15

  Walking the Dog

  “I’m sorry I got distracted this afternoon,” Lydia said. “But I think this might end up being better. Now you’ll get a walk and a treat.”

  Sunny plodded happily along at Lydia’s side. Since the sun was starting to go down, it was cool enough for the lazy French bulldog mix to enjoy a walk. They were walking along the boardwalk to pick something up from the taffy shop before heading out to buy a new treat.

  Sunny had looked at Lydia suspiciously when she had first arrived home smelling like a Dalmatian. However, she had soon forgiven her human and had licked her face to show how happy she was to see her home. Lydia was glad that she had such a loyal canine friend to keep her company on a stressful night. Her thoughts alternated between how Amber must be attempting to steal Daniel and how she couldn’t quite seem to figure out how this tricky murder had occurred.

  “I don’t know, Sunny. What do you think?”

  Sunny sat down on the boardwalk as a response and Lydia smiled. The dog must think that it is time for a break.

  “No problem. We can rest for a moment.”

  However, after she agreed to this, she immediately regretted it. She had looked out to the ocean, hoping to enjoy a relaxing view as she stroked her dog’s fur. However, the view she got was of Amber and Daniel sitting on a blanket on the sand.

  She immediately wondered who had chosen this spot for the picnic. Had Daniel done it because he wanted to be near her taffy shop in case the date went horribly wrong? Or had Amber chosen it to try and taunt her?

  “Come on,” Lydia said, tugging at Sunny’s leash. “I don’t want to watch this.”

  However, Sunny decided that a break was due and rolled onto her back. Lydia sighed. She knelt down to rub the dog’s belly, trying not to watch as Amber placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. She tried not to dwell on how attractive Amber was in her bathing suit or how she could hear bits of laughter carried on the wind.

  “Murder,” Lydia murmured. “Focus on the murder.”

  Sunny made a noise and Lydia reassured her. “I meant: focus on solving this murder. Not causing one.”

  Then, Sunny laid back down and accepted the belly rubs. Lydia realized this must be her punishment for coming home smelling like another dog.

  “Phil Burns was killed three days ago. No one in town, as represented by the gossiping ladies of the salon, noticed any smoke that could have been used to kill him. The killer wanted to hide the time of death. He pretended to be Phil Burns around town by dressing in his fireman’s uniform and being observed. Then the killer put the body in an unused office where the bachelors would be staying before for the auction. The killer set a fire across town to distract the fire department. Then a fire was set to further destroy the body. We were supposed to think that Phil Burns died trying to put out this fire.”

  Sunny made an encouraging noise, so Lydia continued.

  “Why did the killer want the time of death disguised? Was it because he did not have an alibi for the real time of the murder? Was he trying to have an alibi for the arson that was supposed to look like murder? Or was it to bolster an insurance payout?”

  Sunny seemed to shrug and then wagged her tiny tail.

 
; “I was starting to think that Pete Burns was the killer. It made the most sense. Pete looked enough like his brother that he could have pretended to be him – especially if his face was slightly obscured. And I thought he was doing it for the money. And he could have used his cat for a distraction if needed. But he has an alibi for the morning of the bachelor auction. Could he have placed the body there earlier? How long could the killer count on the owner of the building not going upstairs? But if it wasn’t Pete who did it…”

  Lydia stopped talking as a terrifying thought occurred to her. Sunny sat up abruptly.

  “If Pete was the killer, then he could have been watering the lawn. But you can’t water the lawn in a firefighter’s protective gear. That would have attracted attention. But if that’s a lie, then there needs to be a reason for the lie.”

  Lydia picked Sunny up as she looked at the water. “That’s where it happened. And we can’t let it happen again.”

  Holding Sunny in her arms, Lydia ran onto the beach and up to Daniel and Amber.

  “What are you doing here?” Amber asked, sounding extremely displeased.

  Daniel asked the same thing, but just sounded confused.

  “This is my date with Daniel. And a romantic picnic does not include crazy taffy shop owners and stinky dogs,” Amber pouted.

  “What’s going on?” Daniel asked. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “Look, this has nothing to do with your date. At this moment, I really don’t care what she’s been saying to try and steal you away. But I do need your help. You know people on the beach and from the committee. And I need a boat right now.”

  “Why do you need to take your dog on a boat?” asked Amber.

  “It’s Trina,” Lydia said, growing frustrated. “She’s in danger.”

  “Danger?” asked Daniel.

  “That’s right. She’s on a date with the killer. And they’re alone out there at sea. I’m afraid he’s going to try and kill her too if he thinks we’re on to him.”

  “Danny,” Amber pouted, grabbing his hand. “This is obviously a ruse. It’s like I’ve been telling you. She’s unstable. That’s why she gets involved in murders and stuff. But right now she’s just saying this to ruin our perfect evening.”

  “I don’t have time to waste,” Lydia said. “If you’re not going to help me, I’ll find another way.”

  “Of course I’m going to help you,” Daniel said. “We can’t let anything happen to Trina.”

  “Danny,” Amber warned. “If you walk away from me now, it’s over between us! And I had such a fun night planned after the picnic.”

  “I’m sorry, Amber. But I am a lifeguard. It’s my job and my nature to save people. And as much as I wanted you to have an enjoyable evening, you must know that I have feelings for Lydia. I thought it had become apparent.”

  “At any other time I would find this moment very touching,” Lydia said. “But we need to save my best friend’s life.”

  16

  Danger on the High Seas

  “Thank you,” Lydia said once they were in a boat on the water.

  “For what?” asked Daniel. “There was no way I wasn’t going to help you. Trina is a friend of mine too.”

  “But while I started to lose my head from panic, you kept yours. It was obvious that we needed to alert Leo and the police. I was just focused on getting on the water as fast as possible.”

  “The head of the committee owed me a favor after making me get on stage like that,” Daniel said. “He was happy to lend me his boat.”

  “I just hope we’re not too late.”

  Lydia and Daniel were on the small motorboat that he had borrowed and were looking for signs of Trent Thompson’s ship. Leo and police boats were also on the water.

  Lydia had been told to stay on land, but she couldn’t sit idly by at a time like this. If Leo wanted to arrest her when this was all over, so be it. She had to do everything she could to save her best friend. The only time she had wasted before getting on board once Daniel had secured their boat was to hand Sunny off to her employees at the taffy shop before it closed.

  She looked out at the water, praying that they would reach Trina before Trent could kill her like he did Phil Burns.

  “Why don’t you explain it all to me?” Daniel said. “It will help me understand it all as we search.”

  “Part of me hopes that I’m wrong and that we’ll just be interrupting a lovely date,” Lydia said. “But I don’t think that’s the case. You see, several people claimed to see Phil Burns after he was dead. However, he was wearing his fire suit at the time. Someone else could have worn the suit to confuse them. But Trent said he saw Phil Burns watering his lawn after he had been killed. He said this because he also wanted us to think that the time of death was later. But Trent would have had to see Phil out of the firefighter’s protective gear. Wearing it would have attracted too much attention while watering a lawn. Trent was lying.”

  “Why did he want to confuse the time of death?”

  “He thought that he had a good alibi because he would have been on stage and backstage when the body was discovered. That’s why he stayed back there with you. You could supply him with an alibi to say he was there the whole time. And he didn’t want us to know exactly when the real murder had occurred because he didn’t want us to think too deeply about how it occurred.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There was no smoke in town,” said Lydia. “Phil Burns was murdered with fire, but no one saw smoke when the crime would have been committed. Even at night, someone could have seen or smelt it. Unless it was done out at sea.”

  “Trent used his boat to commit the murder?”

  Lydia nodded. “But he had to use fire to make his plan work. He probably did want Phil to be seen as a hero in death.”

  “Why did he want him dead?”

  “That’s the part I’m not one hundred percent clear on,” Lydia admitted. “But he told Trina and me that Phil put a fire out at his house before. Maybe Phil saw something at the house that he shouldn’t have and Trent wanted him silenced.”

  They fell into an uneasy silence after this and continued searching the water. Then, Daniel pointed ahead. Lydia nodded. It looked like the right vessel. They moved closer, hoping that they wouldn’t be seen or heard. Hopefully, they had the element of surprise on their side.

  As they neared it, they could begin to hear voices. Trina’s sounded nervous.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she said. “I really liked you. I thought we could have something special. I don’t care about this dark part of you. Ask my friends. Really. I like bad boys.”

  “It’s a shame you didn’t learn your lesson earlier,” Trent said. “Looking into murders is a very dangerous hobby. And it finally caught up with you.”

  Not having a plan, but unable to do nothing, Lydia sprang on board the ship.

  “Freeze,” she yelled.

  Trent did pause where he was standing. Lydia saw that Trina was tied to a chair.

  “Lydia!” Trina called out. “You came to save me. You figured it out! It’s drugs. Trent has been getting them when he goes out deep at sea and brings them back to the mainland. Phil Burns discovered this when there was the fire at Trent’s house. He wanted to give his neighbor a chance to turn himself in. But Trent killed him instead. He wants to kill me too. He was going to make it look like an overdose of drugs.”

  “You don’t have a weapon,” Trent said, smiling. “What did you expect to do? Convince me to stop out of the goodness of my heart? That didn’t work for Phil. Why should it work for you?”

  “No. I had another plan,” Lydia said.

  Trent didn’t have time to ask what it was before Daniel had crept up behind him and hit him with one of the few loose items that he had on the boat – a fire extinguisher. Trent crumpled to the ground.

  “Is she all right?” Daniel asked.

  “I am now,” Trina said. “But it was a close call.”

  “I’ll
call Leo and the police to let them know where we are,” Daniel said, heading to find a radio.

  Lydia untied Trina and hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks to you both,” Trina said. “But you know what? I’m going to call it. This was the worst date ever!”

  Epilogue

  Lydia read the postcard that she had received from her aunt that showed she was visiting the Great Wall of China and smiled. Sunny was at her side as she sorted the mail, enjoying her long-overdue treat. After a hectic few days, she was glad for some peace and quiet where she could sort out her mundane tasks.