by Carrie Marsh
“Captain!” Edgar waved, panting and sweating terribly. “Sorry I’m late. Family portrait. Four kids under the age of five. It was a nightmare.”
“Hi, Edgar. Was that the Leeman family?”
“Hi, Mrs. Tuttle. Yes, it was.” Edgar puffed as he tried to catch his breath.
“Such a beautiful family. Sweet, sweet people.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Edgar smiled then looked at Andrew, who was looking at them both through half-lidded eyes. “Sorry, Captain. Where’s the body?”
Andrew pointed to the form still lying partially hidden underneath the brush. Edgar and Katie exchanged a few pleasantries before Edgar followed behind her, snapping pictures only after she had removed any foreign debris that might be a clue.
“You know, I had hired Summer to work at my store. She was going to start tomorrow,” Mary stated.
“What? Why would you do that?” Andrew watched his team with his hands on his hips. “She wasn’t exactly known as a nine-to-five kind of girl, Mom.”
“Maybe no one had given her a chance.” Mary watched with fascination as Katie peeked under leaves and placed markers where things of interest had been found. “Maybe someone else out there wants to open a shop like mine and this is a subtle hint that I should back off.”
“Mom, you watch too many true crime shows. Now, please. Go give your statement to Tom and let me do my job. Please.” Andrew rubbed his hand over his short, black hair.
“You look more and more like your father every day.” She smiled up her son. “You want to come by for supper tonight?”
“I have a feeling this might keep me busy. But I’ll be by tomorrow for your grand opening. I promise.” Andrew leaned down and kissed his mother on the cheek.
“Okay, honey. You be careful.” She patted his arm again and walked over to where Grace was standing with Tom. Giving Tom a statement was not going to be quick as Mary began the tale with having coffee and toast before heading out with Grace and what transpired with every single step they took. All the while, Mary watched her son and the other officers doing their job. It was all so exciting.
Yet, she couldn’t be distracted from the hard truth of the situation. A young woman had died. Whether it was by her own hand, by accident, or at the hand of another, no one knew yet. Or at least they weren’t telling her. But Mary whispered a tiny prayer for Summer Moran. This was no way to go.
Just as she was about to wrap things up with Tom, the paramedics arrived. No siren, no flashing lights, just the big orange and white van with the word AMBULANCE written backward across the front hood.
Several joggers and bike riders had stopped their morning routine to gawk and rubberneck around the scene but a bright stretch of neon yellow tape kept them a good distance from all the excitement.
Both Andrew and Katie began to remove the branches and leaves that had partially covered Summer’s body. The paramedics pointed and spoke in hushed voices with Andrew. It was obvious they knew Summer, if not personally then definitely by reputation.
“Mary, I can smell the smoke burning.” Grace sidled up to her friend and slipped her arm though the crook of Mary’s elbow. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Mary replied in a low voice. “But I am afraid my son is going to be in for some long nights.”
A stretcher was pulled from the back of the ambulance. With no effort at all, the legs extended to the ground and made it a sturdy table that blocked most of the view of what the entire police team was doing. Mary stretched her own neck just like the gawkers but her son was a clever man and it was impossible to get a glimpse of anything.
“He sure does look like Ward.” Grace watched the scene, too, but from a completely different perspective than Mary. “No girl catch his eye lately?”
“None that he’s told me about.” Mary chuckled. “She’d have to be something pretty special to mention to dear old mom.”
As if he heard her talking from where he was by the body, Andrew looked up. “Mom! Go home!” He shook his head and stepped back as Summer’s body was gently picked up and then lowered onto the stretcher. Before she could see anything, the corpse was covered up completely with a white sheet.
Mary waved to her son and turned to Grace. “Well, I guess that’s it.” She gestured to Grace like she was wiping crumbs from her hands. “You ready to go back?”
“I’ve been ready. I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk this route anymore.” Grace clung to Mary’s jacket.
“Did you call Henry?” Mary asked.
Grace gasped with wide eyes and mouth agape. “My God in heaven. I forgot all about him. Forgot I had a husband waiting at home. Jeez.” Grace pulled out her phone and quickly dialed her husband. In the chirpy way Grace could tell a story without taking a gulp of air or waiting for a response, she told her husband Henry what had happened.
“No, we’re fine. We’re on our way back. That’s a good idea.” Grace pulled the phone away from her face for a second. “Henry says come by the house for some tea and he’ll make us lunch.”
“I’d love to, Grace. Tell him thanks but I’ve got a few errands to run,” Mary declined. “There are still a few last-minute things I need to get for tomorrow.”
Grace and Henry spoke for a few more moments, Grace’s words accentuated with wild hand gestures and facial expressions that made her look like a raving lunatic from a distance.
As they came around the corner of Tree Top Lane, Mary kept walking straight to the only yellow Cape-Cod-style house on the block. Grace, still talking to her husband on the phone, veered to the left, making her way to a rustic-looking farm-style house with an antique tractor in the front yard.
“I’ll call you later!” Grace shouted. Mary waved her hand and saw Henry appear on the front porch with his cell phone still to his ear. He waved as well, until both Deitzs were standing on the porch, yammering away like two long lost friends before stepping into the house, the screen door slamming with a familiar bang.
When Mary unlocked the front door and stepped inside her home, she was greeted by the glare of two very annoyed bright green eyes.
To be continued….
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carrie Marsh writes cozy mysteries and suspense novels, along with occasional blog post on her website. Her objective is to entertain, and amuse people that reads her books. Her approach is to combine witty ideas with excellent writing skills.
She lives in Florida, USA. When she's not writing, she likes to take long walks with her dog observing the world around her. Her inspirations of her stories come from these long walks.
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ALSO BY CARRIE MARSH
The Sleepless Detective Murder Mystery Series
1. LINK: The Case Of The Hated Body
A Millerfield Village Cozy Murder Mysteries Series
Link to Book #1: Dining With The Dead
Link to Book #2: Cooking With The Dead
Link to Book #3: Paying Back The Dead
Link to Book #4: The Dead Among Us
Morhollow Sweet Tooth Mysteries
Link to Book #1: The Deadly Jellybean Affair
A Stowe Village Cozy Murder Mysteries Series
Link to Book #1: Murder of Convenience
Acknowledgement
Thank you for taking your time and energy to read “Murder of Convenience”. Without your continuous support, I would not have written this book.
Wherever you are, I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. I also want to thank my wonderful Facebook fans, my advance copy reviewers and beta
readers in advance for making this series a success
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Publisher’s Notes
This book is copyright © 2017 by CARRIE MARSH & SMILING HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
