Traveling Town Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Ami Diane

  Flo opened her mouth with what Ella was sure would be a withering retort laced with profanities, but Wink’s hand flew out, silencing them with a gesture.

  “What is it?” Ella asked.

  “I thought I heard something.”

  The three of them stood rooted to the spot in silence for several breaths.

  “Chester, maybe?” Ella finally suggested.

  A few feet away, the squirrel sat on a cabinet, trying to clean himself over his nighttime, break-in clothes.

  Just then, a soft jingling sound rustled outside the window. Ella froze. Her heart climbed her throat, and ice flowed through her veins. She knew that sound.

  With wide, frightened eyes, they looked at each other.

  Chapman, Ella mouthed. He was out back.

  Her hand flew to her forehead with a sudden realization. The ladder! Surely he’d discover it. Their only hope was to escape out the front while he was preoccupied behind the building.

  Wink seemed to have the same thought. She quietly shoved the forms back into their spots and closed the drawer with a soft click while Ella flew across the room to return the binder. If they left them out, it would implicate Stew in their hairy mess.

  After gathering up Chester, they crept out of the filing room. Ella was grateful that the rodent didn’t make his usual chattering sounds. He seemed to sense the gravity of the situation. Either that or Wink had trained him to keep quiet in emergencies.

  Every tiny creak of the floorboards was like a blowhorn calling out their location. It was only a few seconds of tip-toed running, but by the time they reached the front door, a cold sweat prickled Ella’s forehead.

  She turned the lock before twisting the knob slowly. They wouldn’t be able to lock the deadbolt from the outside, but they could lock the knob from the inside before shutting the door—not that it mattered much at this point. The ladder out back was a dead giveaway that something afoul was afoot. Maybe Chapman would think a roofer had been by to do repair work earlier in the day and had forgotten it.

  Ella widened the crack in the door, letting cool air pour in, as she craned her ears, listening for that familiar jangle of spurs. Across the street, the sheriff’s Appaloosa was gone.

  “I think it’s safe,” she whispered to the others.

  With a tentative step, she slid out into the warm light of Main Street and pressed herself into the shadows. Wink and Flo followed, clicking the door shut with only the smallest of sounds.

  They stole south along the sidewalk. When they reached the next block, Ella began to breathe more freely, and some feeling returned to her extremities.

  Then, a whinny tore across the night followed by the clop of hooves.

  “Crap!” Ella broke into a run.

  She didn’t have to glance over her shoulder to know the Golden Girls were following her. She could hear them. Good Lord, she was going to have to chat with them about their footwear. They sounded like a herd of elephants banging coconuts together.

  Above the sloshing of their feet over the sidewalk, she listened for the pounding of hooves. It sounded as if Chapman was on the side street they’d just passed and was going to hit Main any moment, cutting them off. They needed to duck out of sight soon.

  Ella dove for the next alley with Wink hot on her heels. Surprisingly, Flo followed a moment later. When Ella reached the end of the alley, she paused to give Flo a chance to catch her breath so she wouldn’t pass out.

  The air bit at Ella’s throat as she gulped it like water. Beside her, Flo bent over her knees, heaving.

  “For heaven’s sake,” Wink chided, “that was two blocks.”

  “A block and a half, really,” Ella corrected helpfully, causing Flo to glare at both of them. Ella ignored her, saying to Wink, “We need to cut across the street.”

  First, though, Ella led them a few steps around the back of the building Flo was using to prop herself up. Now, if Chapman looked down their alley, he wouldn’t see three shadows lurking in the dark.

  Trashcans and cigarette butts littered the mud. There were only a few feet between the brick building and the fencing backing the property. Ella slid along it, hoping to eat up as much distance to the inn before having to cross the street and risk exposure under the lamplight.

  “I don’t hear him,” she whispered after she’d paused to listen. “Wink, how far away is your car?”

  “About four blocks the other way.”

  Ella swore under her breath. If Chapman circled the neighborhood and saw the diner owner’s car, the jig would be up.

  “I got an idea,” Flo said. Her voice was ragged, but she seemed to have full control over her breathing again.

  The woman yanked on the bag Ella had thrown across her body, pulling Ella along with it.

  “A little warning, next time.” She couldn’t see what the older woman was doing but could feel her rummaging through the contents.

  Wink leaned over. “I thought we’d agreed upon you not bringing any of your crazy weapons. El, you were supposed to check the bag before you left.”

  “I didn’t have time.” Ella nearly gave herself whiplash trying to peek at what the batty woman was pulling out.

  “I agreed not to bring any of my weapons,” Flo said, sliding something roughly the shape of a bottle rocket out—actually, it appeared to be exactly a bottle rocket. “And this ain’t a weapon, per se.”

  Wink opened her mouth to protest, but Ella—against her better judgment—stopped her. “We need a distraction, and this seems relatively harmless.” She turned on Flo. “Don’t make me regret saying that.”

  “Relax, Poodle Head. It’s hardly louder than a kitten’s purr.”

  “I seriously doubt that.” But Flo was already gone, stalking up the muddy pass through, back towards the General Store.

  Ella surmised Flo was going to set off the firework on the side street, drawing Chapman north so they could head south. That still left one problem.

  “Your car,” Ella said to Wink.

  “I’ll get it later.”

  “It just occurred to me that one of us should’ve set off the firework because she’s going to have to run like the wind once she does.”

  “Oh, dear.” A crease formed across Wink’s forehead, and she stared in the swirling gray mist, waiting for her friend.

  The silence exploded with a boom that nearly sent Ella diving for cover followed by a high-pitched shriek. A moment later, red sparks streaked towards the sky followed immediately by a second boom that shook Ella’s chest and rattled nearby windows. Above, colors and embers bloomed in the clouds.

  “That was more than your average bottle rocket,” Ella observed. Despite their circumstances, she was enthralled by the beautiful light show.

  Wink’s eyes were glued towards the road. “Flo should’ve been back by now.”

  “Maybe it had a short fuse.”

  Ella began to worry her lip, then a shadow emerged, limping.

  “What happened to you?” Ella wrapped her arm around Flo and helped her hobble along. The passage was too narrow for more than two abreast, so Wink was relegated to shoving them from behind.

  “Tripped over a curb.”

  Ella bit back a range of responses to this, pouring all her energy into half-carrying the woman. They crossed Main Street unmolested, without a glimpse of man nor beast. Judging by the distant neighing, Horse and his rider were a neighborhood away.

  By the time Ella was dragging Flo up the inn’s front stoop, sweat tickled her eyes. She burst through the door and dropped the woman inside the foyer like a sack of potatoes, gasping and leaning beside the grandfather clock.

  “No more of these adventures until you get into shape,” she rasped at Flo.

  Wink closed the door behind them and ran to a window to peer out. From a pocket, Chester poked his head up to see what all the commotion was then promptly disappeared again. Ella couldn’t imagine the jostle he’d experienced on the run over.

  Wink let the curtain fall back into p
lace. “I think we made it.”

  Pushing off the wall and swallowing past a thick throat, Ella said, “Looks like you’ll be spending the night.”

  Chapter 17

  ELLA WIPED DOWN the counter in the diner, sweeping bits of scrambled egg into the trash. When the surface reflected the gray world outside, she set aside the rag and stared out the window. She couldn’t wait until they jumped to a new location. The heaps of snow for days on end was preferable to this ever-present, suffocating fog.

  The weather seemed to impact the general atmosphere of the town, too, and the diner was suffering for it. Their customer numbers had dwindled the last few days, and those who did show up were grumpy and short.

  She sipped at her coffee, clearing the fog from her mind, as she reviewed last night’s events. Wink had agreed that it was best to spend the night at the inn, sleeping in one of the available bedrooms upstairs. That morning, she’d awoken early to move her car in front of the diner.

  So, what information had they learned from their break-in?

  For some reason, Patience was fudging food shipments to distributors—or at least one that they knew about. She could very well be doing it to others.

  But why? It wasn’t just to snub Wink via her beau. According to Gladys’s records, the surplus of food was going somewhere.

  Pulling out her phone, Ella opened the memo app. Her thumb swept across the screen as she moved Patience to the top of her suspect list. Her finger hesitated over the word note. She recalled the sharp letters in blocky print on the note she’d found in the basement, but she hadn’t seen enough of Patience’s writing in the file room to know if it matched.

  Also, a new revelation was the fact that Charles had owned several of the buildings on Main Street. Had a disgruntled business owner killed him? She felt that was a stretch, unsure if a rent dispute was enough to kill a man over. Then again, she was always discovering new depths to human depravity.

  She was missing something. It clicked. No, she was missing someone. Someone who had escaped questioning the night of the party. Someone who was paying overhead to the victim.

  Hesitantly, she moved Sal’s name to just below Patience’s. She’d never been his biggest fan, but she thought him relatively harmless and generally goodnatured. Still….

  She shook her head. The simple fact that the victim owned the man’s building was a weedy connection, but a connection nonetheless. Besides, Chapman had taken Sal’s prints later, and they’d obviously not matched those on the murder weapon, otherwise the barber would’ve been behind bars by now. Unless he’d worn gloves to do the deed.

  The door opened with a tinkle of a bell, and the jangle of spurs broke through her thoughts.

  “Sheriff,” Ella said with a forced smile. Her heart beat like a hammer in her ears. “Coming in for a late breakfast? Horatio can scrounge up a good Country Scramble for you.”

  Chapman took three long strides from the door to the counter. Without a word, he pulled out a pouch, opened it, and surreptitiously let the contents roll onto the counter. Ella winced when she recognized the small, round pellets of Chester’s droppings.

  She pretended to inspect them. “Are those raisins?”

  “It’s excrement from an animal, a squirrel to be precise.”

  “Well, if I’d known you were hungry for that…” Her voice trailed off when she caught his expression. He was not amused. She cleared her throat. “Do you always carry poop around? Because I’ve got to tell you, it’s not very hygienic.”

  “Do you know where I found this excrement?” He placed both hands on the counter and leaned forward, towering over her. She fought the urge to cower and, instead, adopted what she hoped was an expression of innocence.

  “No, where?”

  “In the file room of the Community Services Office. Ever been there?”

  Ella swallowed. If she said no, all he had to do was ask Susan-Betty, and the secretary would tell him they’d been in earlier the day of the break-in, assuming he hadn’t already done so.

  “I think I stopped by once.”

  “I also found a ladder out back and the skylight open. Know anything about that?”

  Her eyes widened, and she shook her head.

  When he sighed, his mustache bristled. “Miss Barton, I know you three clowns were there last night, and with that outlaw of all people.” This threw Ella. Why did he think Six had been with them? “Whatever it is you’re up to, just stop. If I catch you, it’s straight to the slammer with you lot.”

  She took a moment to compose herself, then she angled her chin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sheriff.”

  “Fine.” He scooped up the pouch, leaving Chester’s droppings behind.

  He made it to the door before she stopped him.

  “Just out of curiosity,” she said, “have you had a chance to change out those moth-eaten blankets in your jail cells?”

  He shook his head, his eyes glinting. “I heard Six complaining ‘bout bed bugs the last time he was in there. Keep that in mind.” With a curt nod, he left.

  Ella watched him mount Horse, flick the reins, then clomp out of view. She let out a breath, then she promptly swept the contents atop the counter into the trash and scoured the countertop with bleach.

  “I’m telling you, he’s onto us.” Ella stood in the back of Grandma’s Kitchen, zipping up her coat. Horatio had just left out the back door, whistling and with a spring in his step at getting to go home early.

  Wink tied a scarf over her pink hair, hiding silver roots.

  “It’s ‘cause of this one.” Flo jerked her thumb at the diner owner. “It’s her rodent.”

  “Never mind that.” Wink had taken great offense at Chester being the reason Chapman fingered them for the break-in. “We ready?”

  Ella nodded, still not sure what they were about to do was a good idea. Come to think of it, most of what she did with Mischief and Mayhem was never a good idea. “Remember, be subtle. We need to verify Sal is Patience’s alibi and see who’s lying.”

  After the other two nodded in agreement, they moved through the diner. Wink flipped off lights and turned the closed sign. Outside, a chill bit through Ella’s coat and nipped her skin as she fumbled the key into the lock.

  As they huddled together and crossed the street, Ella said, “I forgot to mention this but, for some reason, Chapman is under the impression that Six was with us last night.”

  “Curious,” Wink replied, bending into the fog.

  Flo snickered. “That’s ‘cause that firecracker was his.”

  Both Ella and Wink stopped and stared at Flo.

  “Pardon?” Wink asked. “Flo, what did you do?”

  Laughter, mixed with a touch of asthma, bubbled out of the older woman’s mouth. “I stole a couple of his fireworks as a backup plan. I knew if the sheriff came across them, he’d suspect that gunslinger and we’d be in the clear.” Her smile wavered, and she cast an accusing glance at Wink. “Woulda worked too if it weren’t for that walking hairball of yours.”

  Ella cut off the impending argument brewing behind Wink’s eyes. “Never mind that. Flo, that’s not nice. Six may have deserved that, but—meh, who am I kidding? He definitely deserved that, and he probably wouldn’t even care if he found out.” She nudged them both towards the salon, eager to get out of the cold.

  As they stepped inside to a warm atmosphere of gossip and the stench of chemicals as harmless as Agent Orange, Ella dropped her voice. “What is it I’m supposed to ask for again?”

  “Wash and set,” Wink said, matching Ella’s whisper, then she spoke louder as Jenny swooped in. “Hello, dear. How are you?” She gave the hairdresser a warm hug.

  When they parted, Jenny nodded at both Flo and Ella, saying, “How do you do?”

  They returned the greeting. Jenny’s gaze lingered on Ella, her blue eyes extra frosty.

  Wink untied her scarf, revealing the exposed roots and explaining she was there to get them touched up.

  �
�You still look wonderful,” Jenny said, scratching her nose, “but I’m glad you came in.”

  Flo said she was there for her usual permanent. When Jenny rounded on Ella, her expression turned to ice again.

  Ella held in a slew of harsh words aimed at the hairdresser, knowing her cold demeanor stemmed from jealousy over Will. “I’d like a wash and set, please.”

  “Very well. Right this way.” Jenny led Wink and Flo to two beautician chairs. Ella waited until an available hairdresser came over and escorted her to the sinks, passing a long row of hood hairdryers, all full with a gaggle of women.

  Ella panicked. She’d hoped Jenny would be the one to help her, so she could pump her for information. The gal who escorted her was barely out of high school, wore her hair in a short crop, and smacked a wad of gum in her mouth with every other step. She’d been the same one who’d given her a haircut a few weeks back.

  They chatted idly about Ella’s new hairdo and how she was liking it as she sat in a chair in front of a sink. Ella leaned back until her neck was cradled in the u-shaped bend of the sink basin and felt like she’d put her head in a vice. Beauty truly was torture.

  Warm water flowed from the sink and through her hair as Gum Smacker massaged her scalp. Ella relished the moment before groping for a new conversation topic. “Penny, right?”

  “Oh, but yes.” The young gal’s voice came out breathy, the words articulated as if emulating movie stars of her era.

  As it turned out, conversation wasn’t necessary because the roar from the faucet drowned out half their words. Once she finished, Gum Smacker wrapped a towel around Ella’s head and took her back to the chairs.

  She was relieved to be seated between Wink and Flo, amidst a sea of hair products. Flo, whose hair was in rollers, was saying, “I need more volume, something inspiring, to appeal to the constituents.”

  You’d think Flo was up for election.

  “I’m confused,” Ella said, looking between Flo and her hairdresser. “I didn’t think you permed hair for a beehive.”