Sabrina Carlson Cozy Mystery Anthology Read online

  Sabrina Carlson Cozy Mystery Anthology

  Meredith Potts

  Table of Contents

  Chocolate Cupcakes with a Side of Murder

  Apple Crumble with a Side of Murder

  Chocolate Brownies with a Side of Murder

  Candy Canes with a Side of Murder

  Ice Cream with a Side of Murder

  Chocolate Cupcakes with a Side of Murder

  Chapter One

  “It’s not too late to change your mind,” I said.

  My eighteen-year-old daughter raised her eyebrows and looked at me like I was nuts.

  “Very funny,” Jessica Carlson said.

  As I stared into her hazel eyes, one thought kept popping into my head. She had grown up so fast. Sure, she had a trim figure and a square face, just like when she was younger. And Jessica still preferred to pull her long brown hair back into a ponytail, just like when she was a little girl. But she definitely wasn’t little anymore. She was an adult now.

  “Honey, I wasn’t joking,” I said.

  My daughter held her hand up. “Mom, let me stop you right there. I’m doing this. And nothing you say is going to stop me.”

  Jessica took after me in so many ways. Not only in the looks department, but also personality-wise. When I was her age, I was as stubborn as could be. That being said, I had only softened slightly over the years. Even though I was fifty-five now, I was still plenty feisty.

  “Jessica, I know you’re dead serious,” I said. “Why do you think I’m such a bundle of nerves?”

  “Mom, I’m the one enrolling in the police academy,” Jessica said. “If anyone should be nervous, it’s me.”

  My eyes widened. “If you’re really nervous, you can take some extra time to think over your decision.”

  Jessica folded her arms. “I’m not that nervous.”

  “Okay. I’m just checking.”

  She stared deep into my eyes. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Then wish me good luck. You know that becoming a police detective has been my dream ever since I was a little girl. This is the first step toward making that happen.”

  “I understand that. And trust me, no one is going to be praying for you more than I will. After all, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “Things will be just fine,” she said.

  I took a deep breath before replying, “I hope you’re right.”

  Jessica chuckled. “What’s so funny?”

  “Here you are, a woman who has investigated dozens of murders. Yet you’re nervous about me pursuing my dream of becoming a detective.”

  “That’s exactly why I’m so nervous,” I said. “I know how hard it is to solve murder cases. Not to mention how dangerous those investigations can get.”

  At that point, my daughter looked at her father, Detective David Carlson, who calmly leaned against our car a few feet away. My husband had already said good-bye to Jessica. It was safe to say that he had managed to keep a much cooler head throughout the process.

  “Dad has solved plenty of cases as well, but you don’t see him freaking out,” Jessica said.

  “At least not on the outside,” I said. “Let me tell you something, though. Forget his stoic demeanor. On the inside, I can guarantee that he’s plenty nervous.”

  “But he doesn’t have to be,” Jessica said. “And neither do you.”

  “Of course I do. It’s part of being a parent. You’ll understand one day,” I said.

  “In the meantime, I really should be heading inside,” Jessica said.

  Finally, there was no delaying the inevitable. I took a deep breath and threw my arms around my daughter. “You take care of yourself, all right?”

  “I will.”

  “I love you so much,” I said.

  “I love you, too,” Jessica replied.

  Chapter Two

  Once I was done saying good-bye to Jessica, my husband and I hopped into our car and began our journey home. It would take us three hours to arrive back in our coastal hometown of Treasure Cove. Thankfully, the drive was scenic.

  At first, I thought the ocean view would be able to hold my attention. After all, I loved watching the waves crash against the shore. Unfortunately, I had difficulty focusing on the coastline. I was too busy wrestling with my emotions.

  My daughter enrolling the police academy was a huge deal. Not just for her career. But also because it was the first time she had ever lived away from home. While I was proud of her for taking such a big step, I also felt very sad that her bedroom wouldn’t be right down the hall anymore. It was truly the end of an era.

  In addition, David and I suddenly found ourselves in a strange position. All of a sudden, we were empty-nesters. That was definitely going to take some time to get used to.

  While I sat in the passenger seat of our family sedan and stared out the window, my husband looked over at me with a concerned expression on his face.

  “Do you want to talk?” he asked.

  I pulled my head out of the clouds and stared into David’s soulful brown eyes. My husband was fifty-five-years-old, but he kept himself in such good shape that he looked a good ten years younger than his true age. He had a muscular body, a handsome face, a tender heart, and a killer sense of humor.

  I shrugged. “What’s there to say?”

  “I’m going to miss Jessica, too,” he said. “But everything is going to be okay.”

  “Come on, David. Let’s be honest. Things are never going to be the same again.”

  “Honey, she’s only going to be at the academy for six months. Then she’ll be coming back to Treasure Cove.”

  “Except that when she returns, she won’t just be our little girl anymore. She’ll be a police officer.”

  He took a deep breath. “I know. It’s incredible how quickly she’s grown up.”

  I stared out into the distance. “It really is.” I began to get choked up. After taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I continued. “Why don’t we talk about something else?”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely. Another topic would be great.”

  David grimaced. “Do you want me to pull over?”

  I shook my head.

  “Really?” he said. “If I stop the car, you can walk around and get some fresh air.”

  “Honestly, I just want to get home. The sooner, the better.”

  “All right.” David looked at the radio dial on his dashboard. “How about some music?”

  I nodded. “That would be good.”

  ***

  A few hours later, David and I arrived back in Treasure Cove. The coastal California town was home to just a little more than thirty-thousand residents. Although, that number nearly doubled in the summer, when the tourists flocked here in droves. There were two main reasons why visitors loved our picturesque small town—the beach and the weather.

  While those things were both great, Treasure Cove had more to offer locals and tourists alike. My hometown also had a revitalized Main Street, a large selection of Victorian-era homes, a wonderful boardwalk promenade, and a great selection of boutiques.

  During my time living here, more than a few people had referred to Treasure Cove as being picturesque. I couldn’t agree more. In my mind, it was a postcard-perfect town.

  When my husband and I arrived back at our green Victorian-style home on Avocado Drive, our energetic corgi, Sebastian, was at the door to greet us. We gave him some pats and told him how happy we were to see him.

  “Did you miss us?” I said. “I missed you, too.”

  Even though Sebastian was happy to see us, t
here was a confused look in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. Where was Jessica?

  Sebastian kept staring at the door, as if he expected her to be back home any minute. Unfortunately, there was no way of explaining to him that she wouldn’t be coming home for a long time. I gave Sebastian a few more pats, but that only briefly distracted him. A few seconds later, he was back to staring at the front door. His dogged determination was admirable.

  While Sebastian kept diligent watch for Jessica, a temptation began to creep up inside me. I suddenly got the urge to dart into the kitchen and eat some ice cream straight from the carton. Instead of indulging in dessert, I mustered enough willpower to head toward my bedroom. It seemed like a good time to take a nap.

  When I entered the hallway, however, my eyes ended up being drawn to the doorway of Jessica’s bedroom. So much for taking a snooze. Instead, I stopped in my tracks. As I looked at my daughter’s room, my emotions began to swell.

  A few seconds later, David came down the hallway, saw that I was lost in thought, and hugged me from behind.

  “It feels so weird, being an empty-nester. Doesn’t it?” he asked.

  “There’s an understatement for you,” I said. “I didn’t realize it would feel quite so empty.”

  “I think it will just take us some time to adjust.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” I took a deep breath. “I just can’t get over how strange it feels knowing that she is three hours away instead of sitting on her bed reading a book. Or doing her homework. Or chatting with her friends.”

  “I know. I really miss her, too.”

  “So, what are we supposed to do now?”

  “We could watch a movie. Or take a walk on the beach—”

  “I meant, big-picture,” I said.

  David’s eyebrows knitted. “I’m not sure either one of us is in the correct frame of mind to talk about the future right now.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “I’ll say this, though. You were spot-on about one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It isn’t going to be the same around here anymore.”

  I shook my head. “It sure won’t.”

  “Even so, it isn’t going to do us any good just standing in the doorway to her bedroom, letting our emotions get the best of us.”

  “Do you have any better suggestions?”

  He nodded. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  David leaned forward and closed the door to Jessica’s bedroom. He then nudged his head toward the living room. “I say you and I take a seat on the sofa. We can put on a really funny movie and take our minds off things for a while.”

  I bit the corner of my lip. “I suppose we could do that.”

  “How about I throw in a shoulder rub?” he asked.

  My eyes lit up. “Now you’re talking.”

  Chapter Three

  The shoulder rub definitely improved my mood. But by the end of the night, my sadness had returned. If ever there was an evening to go to bed early, it was then. So, David and I headed into our room and went to sleep.

  In the morning, I started to go about my usual routine. Only, without Jessica around, there was nothing typical about it. As I took Sebastian for a walk around the neighborhood, I realized that I would need to create an entirely new routine.

  When Sebastian was done sniffing every tree in the neighborhood, we returned home. I then made some breakfast for David before he headed off to the police station to begin his shift. Once my husband left for work, I had a decision to make.

  It would have been easy for me to just head back to bed. But I knew that wouldn’t do me any good. I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before. I was too awake to nod off again. Besides, if I went back in the bedroom, my mind would inevitably just focus on how much I missed my daughter.

  What I really needed was a distraction. So, I headed over to my family’s coffee shop. My grandmother, Betsy, had opened Daley Buzz Coffee Company many decades before. Over the years, she had grown the business into the most successful coffee shop in all of Treasure Cove.

  Much to my chagrin, my grandma had passed away a couple of years back. But she had lived a good life. And a long one, too. She was ninety-nine when she died. In honor of her memory, I hung up a framed photo of her behind the register. In addition, she was in my thoughts almost every day. I missed her dearly.

  As I entered Daley Buzz, I tried to take my mind off of my late grandmother. After all, I was already dealing with enough at the moment.

  That particular morning, the manager of the coffee shop, Vanessa Hargrave, was behind the counter preparing lattes. For about twenty years, I had been the general manager of Daley Buzz. But in recent years, I had turned over more and more of my duties to Vanessa. These days, I mostly handled big-picture matters while doing the occasional stack of paperwork.

  Before I headed into the back office to get started on some sales reports, I needed some caffeine in my system. I had Vanessa fire up a latte for me.

  “Coming right up,” Vanessa said.

  ***

  While I was waiting for my drink, my two best friends came into shop. I had known Shannon Marlowe and Kelly Hogan since elementary school. Not only had we grown up together, but we had all raised children together. As a matter of fact, both Shannon and Kelly were dealing with empty nests of their own.

  Over the weekend, Shannon and her husband had moved their son into a dorm at Mixon State College while Kelly and her husband moved their daughter into her residence hall at Emerald Cove School of Art and Design.

  Naturally, the moment I spotted Shannon and Kelly, I began to talk about how tough of a time I was going through. They also shared their experiences with me. The good thing about being around old friends was that we didn’t need to hold anything back. We could let our emotions hang out. That was exactly what we did.

  “I cried almost the entire drive home,” Shannon said.

  Shannon was a petite, fifty-five-year-old redhead who had freckles dotting the cheeks of her round face.

  Meanwhile, Kelly Hogan was a curvy, bespectacled, blue-eyed, fifty-three-year-old with wavy blond hair. “I cried, too,” she said.

  “I got pretty teary-eyed myself,” I said.

  “I have to say, this whole thing has hit me even harder than I thought it would,” Shannon remarked.

  Kelly nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

  “I mean, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t think it was going to be this difficult either,” Shannon said.

  “Isn’t that just the way life goes?” I asked. “No matter how much you think you’ve prepared, sometimes the universe has other plans.”

  “It sure does,” Kelly said.

  I got a faraway look in my eyes. “During times like this, I can’t help but think about the old saying about appreciating what you have before it’s gone.”

  “Isn’t that the truth?” Kelly said.

  Shannon held her hand up. “Honestly, I don’t believe in that saying quite as much as I used to.”

  Kelly’s nose scrunched. “Why not?”

  “While Eric was growing up, I felt like I did appreciate how great things were,” Shannon said. “I certainly don’t believe that I took his childhood for granted. But now that my son is away at college, I feel like I’m just as sad as some of the parents who didn’t truly appreciate their kids’ childhood. In a way, maybe I’m even more broken up inside because I know just how great having Eric at home really was.”

  I scratched my chin. “That’s an interesting perspective.”

  “Don’t you feel the same?” Shannon asked.

  “Honestly, I’m wrestling with so many different feelings right now that it’s hard to really step back and analyze things,” I said.

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Sabrina, I thought being able to analyze things—even during extreme situations—was your specialty,” Kelly said.

  “Usually,
it is. But what can I say? I’m not my normal self right now,” I said.

  “Fair enough,” Kelly said.

  “I don’t know that fair is the way that I would describe this situation. I don’t remember asking to ride an emotional rollercoaster,” Shannon said.

  “I think we’ve already established that life doesn’t ask your opinion on matters,” I said.

  “Clearly not.” Shannon took a deep breath. “At the same time, as hard as it is for me to adjust to not having Eric at home anymore, I’m happy for him. He’s out there following his dream. I’m so proud of him…” Shannon got choked up as she finished her sentence.

  I reached into my purse. “Do you want a tissue?”

  Shannon shook her head. “No. I will be fine. It just turns out I’m a bigger softie than I thought.”

  I threw out my arms. “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a complete wreck. Which is saying a lot, since Eric just went off to college. It’s not like he died or something,” Shannon said.

  “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a softie. I’ve been plenty emotional as well.” I threw my arms out. “How could you not be at a time like this?”

  “True,” Shannon said.

  “The question is, where do we go from here?” I asked.

  Shannon scoffed. “I have no clue. Right now, I just want to get through my work day without falling apart.”

  “Same here,” Kelly said.

  Shannon checked the time on her phone. “Speaking of, I should be going.”

  “I should be heading off as well,” Kelly said.

  “All right. You two hang in there,” I said.

  “You too,” Shannon said.

  “I’ll do my best,” I said.

  Chapter Four

  Once Shannon and Kelly left the coffee shop, I figured it was time to get started on that paperwork. As I was about to head into the back office, however, two more familiar faces entered the shop. Deputy Rick Peterson and Deputy Steven Wilson were my husband’s coworkers.