Murder Bites Read online

  I head to the front and bump into the redheaded man who helped me out to begin with.

  “Did you find her?” he calls out as he moves to the register to help ease the line snaking around the front.

  “No, I didn’t. I was hoping to talk about art with her, too. I hear she’s pretty good.”

  “Good is questionable. She uses the back room as a studio now and again. Art is in the eye of the beholder, I presume.”

  “That it is,” I say as I speed back into the icy afternoon and jump into my car.

  I watch in my rearview mirror as Natalie heads into the bookstore on my heels.

  Lad was a monster for what he was doing and about to do to Emily, but Natalie is a special kind of monster, too.

  And when Emily goes down, I’ll make sure Natalie goes down with her.

  I’ll admit, there’s a thread of excitement in me all the way to the Seaview Sheriff’s Department. I know that Jasper didn’t want me mingling with his investigation, but he’ll practically thank me for what I’m about to tell him.

  I park and stride on in, all the while thinking I should have come with a platter of those magical raspberry cheesecakes bites. They’d throw Jasper straight into a good mood, and I wouldn’t need to worry about how I was going to segue into this conversation. But then, I can always resort to bewitching him with my mouth. It’s been known to work a time or two.

  The steely interior is devoid of any homey effect, but there are a smattering of metallic hearts stuck along the walls and it gives this hardnosed place a festive appeal.

  “Bizzy?” a familiar voice calls from my right, and I look to find Leo Granger heading this with a quizzical look on his face. “What brings you in?”

  “Why?” I smart. “Afraid I’m here to take that nightstick you wield and smack you over the head with it? I’m tempted, you know.”

  “Oh, I know. I can practically read your mind.” He sheds a devilish grin.

  “Not funny. I’m here to see Jasper. Do me a favor and stay away from Emmie. If Mackenzie finds out, she’ll burn all of Cider Cove down as a means of revenge.”

  Leo chuckles as he does his best to follow me all the way to Jasper’s office. The door is ajar, and the sound of hostile voices rising has me halting at the foot of it.

  “We didn’t have secrets,” a female voice shouts, and I peer in enough to verify it’s Camila.

  “You had a secret,” Jasper tells her. “And he happened to be my best friend. Look, I’m not going around the block with you. Next time you have department business that you need to bring to my desk, find someone else to do it or I’ll have you replaced.” I’d do it if I could.

  I exchange a glance with Leo and he shrugs.

  Camila gives an incredulous huff. “You said you were ready to get serious with her.”

  “And as soon as she opens up to me about whatever it is she wants to tell me, I will. And that’s all I’m telling you. I don’t owe you a timeline of where my relationship with Bizzy is going or how quickly we’ll get there.”

  “I just want to know how much time I have, Jasper.” There’s a threat in her voice. “You and I belong together. If Dizzy Bizzy can’t be an open book to you, then do you really want this woman in your life? Think about it, Jasper. If she really loved you, there wouldn’t be any big secret after all these months. She’ll never tell you. She will never be honest with you. But with a little counseling, we could go back to the point in our relationship that was bliss.”

  I don’t hesitate stepping into the room. “Was that before or after you slept with Leo?”

  Camila looks stunning with her hair swept up and her eyes glowing like coals. I’m sure Camila goes all out while getting ready for work in the morning. Every day is prom for her. And she goes out of her way to look her best in an effort to trap her ex.

  Her chest thumps with a laugh. “Good luck, Bizzy.” You’ll need it. We just had a very special lunch together.

  My mouth falls open as Leo shuts the door behind her and it’s just Jasper and me inside his office.

  “Did you have lunch with her—again?” It comes out like a threat, and to be honest, I never meant to say it out loud.

  Jasper has me wrapped in his arms before I can process it.

  He furrows his brows a moment. Now, how did she figure that out? “Does it count if I’m in the sandwich shop next door enjoying my BLT when she plops in the seat across from me and refuses to leave? In my defense, it took me thirty seconds to do just that.”

  A dull laugh rattles through me. “She’s absolutely insane. How will we ever survive her?”

  Jasper shakes his head. “We’ve already survived her. She just hasn’t gotten the memo.” His lids hood dangerously low. “Your cheeks are rosy. Your eyes shine like pale blue diamonds. You’re downright gorgeous, Bizzy Baker.” I say secret be damned. I’m ready to share my surprise with this beautiful woman. The sooner, the better.

  I clear my throat and press my hands to his chest as if I were about to push him away.

  “I’m ready, Jasper. I’m ready to tell you my secret.”

  “Here?” He gives a quick glance around as if he knows on some intrinsic level this isn’t the ideal spot.

  I give a feeble nod. “Camila is right. We shouldn’t have secrets between us after all these months. We love each other. And my love for you is genuine.” I swallow hard. Tears sting my eyes, but I’m quick to blink them away. “You might want to sit down for this.”

  “I’m fine.” He shakes his head. “I’m a homicide detective. I’ve seen it all, Bizzy. I promise, I’ll be accepting of whatever it is you have to tell me.”

  “No.” My voice wavers. “You haven’t seen or heard this. I promise you that.”

  “Hey”—he pulls me close and dots a kiss to my forehead—“there is not one thing you can say to me that will have me rethinking my feelings for you.” He pulls back and bears those pale gray eyes into mine. “You have my unconditional love. Just say it. That’s the hard part. I’ve already accepted it.”

  My mouth opens and I take a quick breath. “Oh, Jasper.” I press my forehead to his chest before meeting back up with those day-glow eyes. “What I’m about to tell you can impact our future. It’s powerful enough to create a fissure in our relationship, leaving us with the before and after. You will never look at me the same after this. And—I’m sorry to say this, but Leo”—I shrug—“he knows. I didn’t tell him. He stumbled upon it. And well, Camila sort of knows, too, but that’s a little more complicated.”

  “What?” He inches back as if he were baffled already. “Bizzy, please, tell me what’s going on. I can take it. I promise we will survive.”

  “I don’t know”—my voice quivers—“I don’t know if we will.” I try to pull away, but he only increases his hold on me.

  “Yes”—a dull laugh rumbles in his chest—“do not doubt this. We will survive. Take a deep breath and just say it.”

  Sherlock and Fish blink through my mind. A part of me thought I’d be saying this to Jasper in the safety of my cottage with my furry best friends right there to support me. But then, it’s probably best they don’t witness the carnage.

  “Okay,” I pant and suddenly passing out feels like a very real option. I look into Jasper’s beautiful eyes. “Here’s the truth.” The words come out breathy, almost inaudible. “When I was a teenager, Mackenzie Woods pushed me into a whiskey barrel filled with water. I almost drowned, and I have never been the same ever since. After that, for reasons I can’t explain, I was able to hear things other people weren’t privy to. I could hear things that they weren’t saying—not out loud. I could hear their private thoughts.”

  “What?” He ticks his head to the side. “Like it increased your intuition?” He looks at me sideways, and I can see him quickly trying to make sense of this.

  “No.” I shake my head. “I could hear directly into people’s private thoughts. It’s true. I can read minds. Not every mind but most minds—your mind.” I give a lit
tle shrug as I quiver right down to my bones.

  His eyes scan over my features. “Like some party trick? I pick a number and you try to guess?”

  “I don’t need to guess, Jasper. You could pick a thousand numbers and I’d get them all right.”

  Seventeen.

  “Seventeen.”

  Four.

  “Four.”

  Five hundred and twenty-three.

  “Five hundred and twenty-three.”

  His grip loosens over my arms as he takes a staggering step back.

  “I’ve been reading your mind since the moment we met. I don’t mean to pry. It’s just an open frequency to me. I’m sorry, Jasper. But I know your thoughts, your private musings. I know what you’re thinking about and who. And there is no way for you to hide it. At least not when you’re near me. I’m not very good at hearing things that aren’t next to me. But you are almost always next to me. And I can’t find the shut-off valve.” I swallow hard. “Can you ever forgive me?”

  His Adam’s apple rises and falls as his eyes widen, but there’s a vacancy there. Jasper isn’t sure what to make of what I’ve just said to him, and not a single coherent thought has formulated.

  How does this work? How are we going to work?

  “I don’t know how it works,” I say, affirming his thoughts, and his eyes sharpen over mine. “And I don’t know how we’re going to work either.”

  I speed out of his office, out of the sheriff’s department, jump back into my car, and drive all the way to Cider Cove.

  Jasper doesn’t call or text. He doesn’t stop by in the evening. He doesn’t pick up Sherlock that night. In fact, Jasper’s truck never makes it back into his driveway.

  For all I know he’s left the country.

  One thing I’m pretty certain about is the fact we’re over for good.

  Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I need to put on a happy face for the guests at the inn and the guests at the community center.

  And I don’t know how I’m ever going to get through it all.

  Fish, Sherlock, and Cinnamon all snuggle up with me in my bed, trying to assure me that he’ll come around.

  I don’t know about that.

  All I know is my love life is in shambles.

  There is still a killer on the loose.

  And since I can’t do anything about the former, maybe I can do something about the latter.

  Chapter 18

  Sherlock jumps in front of me as I examine myself in the full-length mirror nestled in my bedroom. I’ve donned a crimson dress that’s cut down to there and sits up to here and has every racy curve highlighted for all to see.

  Sherlock lets out a sharp bark. Jasper’s eyes are about to fall out of his head when he sees you, Bizzy.

  “Sadly, I don’t want to talk about Jasper,” I say. It’s Valentine’s Day, or evening as it were. I barely ambled my way through the afternoon. It was harder than I thought keeping a cheery countenance for the guests.

  Leo stopped by this morning, letting me know that Jasper called in sick, and so I told him what happened. He was as supportive as he could be. But he felt bad for me, too.

  In less than an hour I’m set to deliver all those sweet treats the Country Cottage Café baked for the dance at the community center. And I’ve coerced nearly all my guests into going. I figured I should at least make an appearance before I come home to cry myself to sleep.

  Fish hops onto my bed and bleats a simple meow. Do you think the killer will be there tonight, Bizzy?

  “Oh, I know she will. I called both Emily and Paige and extended the invite. And I assured them that the Dependable app had nothing to do with it. They both said they’d stop by.”

  That’s another motivator for going. A part of me is anxious to pull a confession from either one of them.

  Cinnamon skips on over and I pick up the curly cutie.

  Bizzy, be careful. One of them killed Lad. She didn’t hesitate to do it. Who knows what she’ll do to you once she knows you learned the truth?

  “She won’t do anything.” I dot her head with a kiss. “I can promise you that. I’ll be coming home safe and sound.”

  And alone.

  But I keep that bit of depressing news to myself.

  The Cider Cove Community Center looks more or less like an overgrown school gym. And with all the pink and red balloons, the Valentine cutouts, and the jars of conversation hearts strewn all around, tonight it very much holds the appeal of a cheesy high school dance as well. The lights are dim, romantic music filters through the speakers, and couples are already moving on the dance floor. It’s about as romantic as can be, and the entire Cupid-based scene makes me want to puke.

  No sooner do Emmie and I finish setting out the raspberry cheesecake bites than she scuttles off to speak with a dark-haired deputy who just so happened to stroll in.

  Good Lord, she’s got no shame in her stealing-your-man game. She’s liable to end up as the next body to turn up in Cider Cove if she keeps this up.

  I spot Emily and Paige entering through the large heart-shaped arch made exclusively of Mylar balloons, and something in me quickens at the sight of them. I’m about to head that way when a body steps in front of me, and I look up to see a genuine fire in Mackenzie Woods’ eyes.

  A breath hitches in my throat.

  “Mayor Woods,” my voice squeaks. If there’s anything I don’t want tonight, it’s to be caught up in a potentially deadly love triangle.

  “What in Emmie Crosby’s name is going on here?” she growls, and I take a moment to decide if Mack just invoked Emmie’s name as a curse.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, trying to get around her.

  She sucks in a quick breath and blocks my path once again. “You’re in on this! Oh, Bizzy Baker, you will rue the day you decided to cover for that little pop tart you call a bestie. I can’t believe she’s the turnip that overturned my apple cart.”

  Good Lord, Mackenzie is mixing up her euphemisms, a very bad sign if you ask me. If her brain is misfiring, there’s no telling what direction she’ll launch her next missile.

  “Look, Mack, I have no idea what’s going on between the two of them. But wasn’t it you who said you dumped him? If that’s true, then he’s a free agent—able to peruse whomever he wishes, even Emmie Crosby. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” I barrel past her without giving her a reason for my abrupt exit. But it’s too late. I’ve lost Emily and Paige in this sea of people. Instead, I stumble upon a couple of happy-go-lucky kaftan wearing beauties swinging their hips to the rhythm of the music all by their lonesome.

  “Bizzy Baker!” Georgie pulls me into their hip gyrating midst. “Now we’ve got a party. Where’s that hotshot detective of yours? I know he hasn’t seen you in that fitted red dress yet or he wouldn’t have let you out of his sight.”

  She’s right about the dress. It is aggressively curve hugging, and I was hoping if Jasper did see me, he would do just as she suggested.

  “I don’t know where he is.” It’s the horrible, horrible truth. “How about you two? Any men on the agenda tonight?” That didn’t come out exactly how I meant it to, but I don’t bother clearing it up either.

  Juni lets out a whoop. “Spike will be here shortly. The beefy security guard from the Pawn King? We’re sort of a thing. I’m thinking of moving in with him next week.”

  My mouth falls open, but I’m too jaded by my own impetuous love life to give her any advice on matters of the heart.

  Georgie slaps her on the back. “That’s my Juniper Moonbeam. Stealing hearts and finding a new roof to go over her head all at once.” She tightens her smile as she looks my way. “And I’ve got Archer stopping by. He’s the nude nudie we were lucky enough to meet at the art center. My mother always said when fate throws a naked man in your face, you had better heed that horny call. And I’m heeding it in about ten minutes.” She elbows me in the ribs. “And I’ll be out of here in twelve. We’re heading back to my place for a litt
le dessert. If the cottage is a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’.”

  “I won’t,” I’m quick to assure her. “Unless, of course, it’s on fire. The two of you do share a rather inflammatory history, in the most literal sense.”

  They fall into a fit of laughter at the thought, and I migrate my way farther into the crowd in hopes to find at least one of the Carter women.

  The last month runs through my mind.

  That fated night blinks before me in flashes as I try my best to put together the pieces.

  I’m pretty sure Colt Ferguson didn’t pull the trigger. He was pretty unhappy that Lad wasn’t around to pay back all the money he owed him. And then there’s Madeline. She seemed to be content being the third woman in line to get Lad’s attention. Lad was such a sleaze. But did he deserve a bullet? I mean, people can be rehabilitated from all sorts of addictions, gambling, even an addiction to women. And it certainly sounds as if Lad had his fair share of addictions.

  Paige hated him for what he was doing to her mother. But would she really pull the trigger?

  And not once did I pick up that Emily was covering for her daughter.

  Funny. Not once did I pick up that Paige was covering for her mother.

  Maybe whichever of them did kill Lad didn’t tell the other? Maybe they wanted to keep it to themselves in order to keep the other person from turning into an accessory to the murder?

  And then there’s Natalie.

  She was so in love with the guy she was willing to overlook the fact Lad was just using Emily to fund his gambling addiction. She went so far as agreeing to some ominous accident that was about to befall poor Emily. She had to trust him to keep his word. I mean, the guy was about to get married.

  If Jasper were about to get married to Camila, I wouldn’t be onboard, not for any amount of money, not even if we were going to arrange an accident to befall her someday. I mean, how could anyone in that situation trust a thing a guy like that would say?

  What if he was a pathological liar in addition to being a gambler?