Eve Lloyd’s A Deadline Cozy Mystery Box Set 2

by Sonia Parin

  Working in a busy restaurant, she’d become accustomed to background noise. During the short time she’d been running the inn, she’d come to appreciate the slower pace. Even the guests seemed to take things easier. Then again, they were on vacation.

  Someone must have said something amusing. Everyone laughed. Eve heard glasses clinking. And then… she heard Mira.

  Turning the corner, she strode into the living room. Sure enough, her aunt had joined some of the guests. Seeing her, Mira took a quick sip of her drink and strode up to her.

  “You look lovely.”

  “Thank you. Um, Mira… Don’t take this the wrong way, but… What are you still doing here?”

  “When I couldn’t book myself into a cruise, I decided to stay here.” Mira lifted her chin. “I am not going back home until your parents leave the island.”

  “What will you do if they find out about the inn?”

  “William Hunter is too full of himself to bother talking about anyone else. There’s no reason for your parents to ever know.”

  “So, you’re seeking refuge at the inn. Is that why the curtains were drawn at your house?” Eve patted Mira on the back. “I think we’ll need to sit down and talk about this. We can’t live in fear of my parents dropping in on us.”

  Sighing, Mira agreed.

  Hearing a car approaching, Eve said, “It’s Jack.”

  “Are you sure?” Mira closed her eyes. “Fine. Yes. We need to talk about it all and work on a plan. After all, we’re grown-ups and I shouldn’t live in fear of my sister dropping in on me.”

  “Actually, I’m glad you’re here. Do the guests know about today?”

  “No, they all went out fishing,” Mira said. “As far as I know, no one has gone into town.”

  “Good. I don’t want anyone worrying. Samantha is finishing up for the day and Jill will be on tonight but I’d feel better if she had someone helping her… Just in case.” The day’s events suddenly caught up with Eve. Taking Mira’s glass, she drank deeply. “Right… Well. I’m off on a date.” Albeit, a working date. Even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to keep her mind off the dead person she’d found in her store.

  By the time she reached the front door, Eve had reached a decision. She would not bring any of it up during dinner. The night would be about relaxing with Jack.

  * * *

  Shelby showed them through to Eve’s favorite table near the fireplace; close enough but not too close.

  Jack surprised her by avoiding any mention of the day’s event. However, he did ask an awkward question.

  “As I drove to your place, I realized today I met your parents for the first time.”

  Eve gave him a small smile. “We don’t give out prizes for that, Jack.”

  Jack took her hand in his. “Okay. I know better than to ask.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Let’s order. Any suggestions?”

  “Everything is always good at Shelby’s Table. Your choice depends on what you feel like eating.”

  When he studied the menu, Eve noticed the moment he came across something he didn’t recognize. “Stuck?”

  “Shishitos.”

  “Peppers. They have a distinctive flavor.” Eve tilted her head in thought. “Lively and sweet with a hint of smokiness.”

  “Is there anything you haven’t tasted?”

  “I’m sure there is. Remember, unlike Mira, I haven’t traveled around the world.”

  “Ready to order?” Shelby asked.

  Jack nodded. “Okay, I’m having the steak, no surprise there, with peppers and eggs.”

  Roasted deckle, shishitos, soft egg, confit potato, romesco. Sounded good to Eve. “I’m going to have the Chopped Buffalo Steak.” She rather liked the idea of goat cheese, shiitake and peppercorn sauce. “Oh, and the chocolate soufflé, please.”

  Half an hour later, they had managed to have a pleasant chat without any mention of the body in her store. Eve had also noticed Jack hadn’t brought out his cell phone.

  What if it rang?

  Would he answer?

  Yes, she’d expect him to pick up. If he made an effort to ignore it, she’d insist he needed to take the call. However, she hoped it wouldn’t ring…

  Her mind cleared and, for the briefest moment, she felt as though she didn’t hold a single thought in it. But it didn’t last.

  Eve had an epiphany; a clear understanding of how her life would unfold. Death and murder would always be with her because, one way or another, Jack would always be in her life. Being with someone in the business of crime fighting meant she’d never be excluded from the unsavory aspects of life. Jack would always be working a case and she would be right there, supporting him in any way she could.

  Taking a sip of her wine, she watched him enjoy his steak. “You savor every mouthful. I never noticed that about you.”

  “The combination of flavors is exceptional. Taste it.”

  He didn’t wait for Eve to help herself. Instead, he organized a mouthful onto his fork and offered it to her.

  “You’re right. It’s delicious.” Another thought wove into her mind. She loved Jack. She’d known it for a long time.

  Detective Jack Bradford was one of the good guys. He stood for truth and, wherever possible, he gave victims a final say. Eve decided, right there and then, she would never again complain about her stroke of bad luck.

  When his cell phone rang, he looked at her, holding her gaze long enough for Eve to think he wanted to savor the moment before he switched over to business mode.

  Eve nodded. “You should answer that.” She watched him take the call. As he listened to the information, a small wedge formed between his eyebrows.

  “Coffee?” Shelby asked.

  Eve couldn’t take her eyes off him. She answered with a nod. “Thanks, Shelby.” If he excused himself, Eve would stay behind and let the evening linger on.

  Jack’s mouth set into a grim line as he continued to listen. Eve knew he was taking mental notes. Occasionally, he wrote something down. For right now, she thought he would only focus on the victim’s name. She assumed the call had been made to update him.

  When he set the cell phone down, he didn’t put it away.

  “Will you stay for coffee and chocolate soufflé?” Eve asked as she wondered how long it would be before they could sit down to dinner again.

  * * *

  Instead of driving back to the inn, they headed straight to Mira’s house.

  Moments before arriving at Mira’s, Jack broke the silence. “I could taste something other than chocolate in the soufflé.”

  It took a moment for Eve to unglue her lips. “There was a hint of orange liqueur,” she said. “Maybe some cardamom.”

  The car headlights brought the house into view. Seeing the curtains drawn, Eve smiled. She would sit down and talk about it with Mira tomorrow. For now…

  “Are you coming in?”

  “Let’s sit outside for a while. It’s cool but bearable and I need to clear my head.” He parked the car. Sighing, he sat back for a moment and appeared to come to some sort of decision. Rounding the car, he opened the passenger door.

  “Thank you for tonight, Jack.” They strode toward the front porch but, at the last minute, Jack guided them toward the back of the house where they settled on the deck chairs. “Drink?” Eve offered.

  He nodded so she went inside and poured some cognac. As she handed him the glass, he looked up.

  “The victim’s been identified as Phillip Manningham.”

  The previous tenant.

  Eve settled down next to him. As she took a sip of her drink she listened to the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore.

  A seagull glided down and landed on the beach. It stood there, looking out to sea.

  To her surprise, Jack asked, “Any thoughts?”

  “I assume you’ll be contacting his family.” If he had any. “How long has he been dead? Did the ME say?”

  “Over a year. They’re still trying to pinpoin
t a more precise date.”

  Eve had trouble believing it. “And no one noticed him missing in all that time?”

  “No.”

  How could that be?

  Eve came into contact with people every day. If anything happened to her, someone would raise the alarm.

  She took a pensive drink. Over a year ago, she’d trekked out to Rock-Maine Island to visit Mira and had found her aunt missing. She’d left without saying a word to anyone. Anything might have happened to her. Luckily, Eve hadn’t had to file a missing person’s report because Mira had turned up. If Eve left the island without telling anyone, Jill wouldn’t waste a second. She’d contact Jack straightaway. “Had he been estranged from his family?”

  “We’ve only just discovered his identity so we don’t know if he had family.”

  Eve had the impression Jack had decided to spend the evening just thinking before rolling up his sleeves and getting down to business.

  He’d never before shared information or discussed a case without Eve prodding him to the point of badgering him.

  “Friends,” she said. “Acquaintances. Someone must have noticed him missing.”

  “We’ll try to determine if he had any immediate family. Then we’ll try to locate anyone who might have come into contact with him.”

  If he had family, Eve thought, they can’t have been close. Or even kept in touch.

  “There must be people in town he knew.” Jill had said she couldn’t remember him, but someone had to, surely. “How old was he?”

  “Mid-forties. I’ll know more tomorrow.”

  “I’ve lived on the island for a year and there are people I might not recognize if I saw them elsewhere.” She shrugged. “I see them in passing but I don’t come into direct contact. I guess the mind needs to make connections before storing something.”

  Eve thought of Pete Dresden and his wife. The hardware store owner must have had some sort of contact with the victim. If not an ongoing relationship then a casual one. Surely, they would know something about Phillip Manningham’s final days.

  Eve shrugged. “When his lease ended, he must have stopped by the realtor’s office to hand in his keys and get his deposit back. I know their records have been lost, but someone at the office must remember something about him. You should be able to narrow down the time of death. And… if there had been something strange, surely someone would have noticed. I only need to draw down my eyebrows for someone to ask what’s wrong with me.”

  “No one would ask if you always walked around with furrowed brows. Maybe Phillip Manningham was a perpetual worrier and everyone was used to seeing him like that.”

  “Well, he didn’t put himself in that hole in the wall. Someone put him there and then sealed the room.” Eve couldn’t help wondering why someone would dispose of the body the way they had. They lived on an island. Why not drag the body to the beach and let the current do its job? Or bury it. There were plenty of secluded areas.

  When she shared her thoughts with Jack, he laughed.

  “Are you, by any chance, planning to get rid of someone? You seem to be well-informed.”

  “It doesn’t take a genius to come up with those solutions,” Eve said. “Why keep a body entombed in a building someone else is going to eventually lease? The smell alone…” Eve broke off.

  “Yes?”

  “The space had been closed up but not entirely sealed. Corpses decompose and even I know there is an unpleasant odor attached to that.”

  “Lime.”

  “As in green lemons?”

  “No, as in lime cement. The whole body was covered in it. The ME said it helped mask the smell. There was also a lot of sand, presumably to soak up moisture.”

  They fell silent.

  Eve watched the seagull. It had moved away from the shore and had settled down for the night.

  “That sounds like a deliberate attempt to preserve him,” Eve murmured. “What about cause of death?”

  “Blunt force trauma.” He tapped the back of his neck. “Someone hit him hard enough to crack his cranium.”

  Someone? A man. A woman?

  “Not just a hairline fracture. We’re talking about the back of the head completely smashed.”

  And then, the killer dragged the body into the nook and decided to seal it in. “The killer wanted something. A reminder. There you are, closed in, locked up, entombed… right under everyone’s noses.”

  “You and Jill are going to have a field day trying to figure this one out. Make sure to share your findings.”

  “Are you poking fun at me?”

  He smiled at her. “You’re my go-to person for thinking outside the box.” He took her hand and drew her to her feet. “Let’s call it a night. I have an early start tomorrow.”

  While Jack kept himself busy trying to fill in the blanks, Eve would…

  Sit down with pen and paper and draw up a plan for her new business venture. Everyone would expect her to dive right into it and start snooping around, but she had no intention of becoming involved.

  Chapter Six

  The rapid knock on the window startled Eve. She stilled and strained to hear. Jack had already left for work. Thinking the store would still be out of bounds to her, she’d lingered at Mira’s house to enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

  She heard Jill call out, “Eve.”

  Eve surged to her feet and rushed to open the back door.

  Jill rushed in. “If you keep this up, we’ll need to agree on a secret door knock.”

  “Funny, ha-ha. Come on in. Make yourself at home.” She closed and locked it behind her.

  Jill took her coat off and pulled out a stool. “Breakfast? Yes, I’d love some, thank you. I stayed up half the night working on theories.” She waved a notebook. “And I took notes.”

  “Whatever for?”

  Jill gaped at her. “You found a body in your store. It didn’t get there all by itself so we’re going to look into it.”

  Eve’s eyebrows curved upward. “We are?”

  “Of course. It’s what we do.”

  Eve gave her a breezy wave. “The police will take care of everything. After all, that’s what they do.”

  “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

  “As much as the next person. But I’m an innkeeper, not a detective.”

  Jill didn’t look convinced. She opened her notebook and tapped her pen on the counter. “One. We need to find out the victim’s identity.”

  Eve poured Jill a cup of coffee. “Toast?”

  “Thanks. French toast would be lovely.”

  Eve put some bread to toast and set the frying pan on the stove. “With or without walnuts?”

  “With, thank you.” Jill took a sip of her coffee. “Did you enjoy your date?”

  Eve told her about the wonderful meal she’d enjoyed with Jack the night before. “Would you believe it? We managed to get through the night without once mentioning Phillip Manningham.”

  “If you know his name then you must have discussed it at some point. Or are you just assuming that’s the victim’s name?”

  Eve cracked a couple of eggs and whisked them. “The victim’s been identified.”

  “Phillip Manningham.” Jill sat back. “How could that be? Are you sure?”

  “Me? How would I know. Jack received a call toward the end of the meal.”

  “That simply doesn’t make sense.”

  Eve had to agree but she really didn’t want to think about it. “What about you? Did you enjoy your evening with Mira?”

  “Yes. Mira helped me draw up a list of questions. Do you want to hear them or not?”

  Not really, Eve thought. But she could see Jill’s excitement shining in her eyes and couldn’t bring herself to deny her. “Go ahead.”

  “After a lengthy debate, Mira and I reached a conclusion and we are both willing to stake our reputations on it. This has to be a crime of passion. The killer entombed his victim for a reason. We played around with several ideas and like
d the one about spurned love the best.”

  Eve couldn’t hide her surprise. “I had similar thoughts last night.”

  “You know what they say about great minds.” Jill pumped her fist in the air and whooped. “Mira favors a woman as the killer and I think it’s a man because I think it would be more interesting. Either one, they wanted to have the last word, big time.” Jill cleared her throat and, scrunching up her face, growled, “So, you thought you could leave me. Well, you can’t. You promised me forever.”

  “That’s… very convincing.”

  “Yes, but I’m not so sure now. Phillip Manningham didn’t strike me as the type to inspire a great love story gone wrong.”

  “Why? Because he didn’t capture your attention?” Eve gave her a lifted eyebrow look. “Remember the eye of the beholder.”

  “You’re right. Anyhow, I think there are going to be plenty of rocks for us to turn over,” Jill said. “Someone thinks they got away with murder and I am willing to bet anything they’re kicking back and relaxing even now.”

  “Oh, but are they?”

  Jill stared at her, her eyes blinking fast. Then she slapped her hand on the counter. “Of course. You’re right. They would have seen the police yesterday. They now know the body has been discovered.” Jill sprung to her feet and strode around in a tight circle.

  Eve arranged the French toast and walnuts on a plate and dusted it with a generous amount of confectioners’ sugar. She topped up Jill’s coffee and waited for her to finish her thought process.

  “Okay. We’re talking about something that happened over a year ago so the killer is confident.” Jill gave a firm nod and resumed her seat. “Yes. They’re right this minute telling themselves there’s nothing to worry about because… because they were careful. They covered their tracks. They believe there’s nothing to link them to the victim and that’s why I strongly believe the killer is a man. It’s a well-known fact, they’re more arrogant than women.”

  Eve tapped her chin. “They might be planning their getaway as we speak.” In which case, Eve thought, they needed to keep their eyes peeled open for anyone leaving the island unexpectedly.