Caramels With A Side Of Murder Read online

In short order, Miss Terri’s house became a zoo of frenetic police activity. Deputies cordoned off the property while members of the forensics team scoured every inch of the place for fingerprints and clues.

  David gave the photo of Terri and the brunette to one of his deputies to make copies of and disperse as part of the all-points bulletin. From there, David headed to his car. He opened up his police-issued laptop and did a search on Terri Baxter.

  My story was much different. While a flurry of action took place around me, I found it difficult to even move a muscle. I felt like my feet were stuck in cement. My heart was beating out of control. I had to do some breathing exercises to calm myself down.

  The police were trained to deal with the sight of dead bodies. Even though this wasn’t the first murder I had dealt with, I was still really uncomfortable being at a crime scene.

  When David returned from his car, his eyes were as wide as saucers.

  “This is some crazy stuff,” he said.

  “I know. Two murders in three months,” I replied.

  “I was talking about what I just found out.”

  “Uh-oh. What is it?”

  “That brunette you saw running away from the scene is Terri’s sister.”

  My eyes widened. “Sister?”

  He nodded. “Her name is Erin Baxter.”

  I groaned. “Family drama is the worst kind of drama.”

  “And in this case, it looks like it turned into deadly drama.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t get it.”

  “I know this particular case has to be really hard for you, finding one sister murdered while the other one flees the scene of the crime.”

  “That’s not it.”

  His eyebrows knitted. “It isn’t?”

  I shook my head. “No. I keep going back to the baseball bat that was on the ground next to Terri’s body.”

  “You mean the presumptive murder weapon?”

  “Terri’s sister was in a hurry to get out of here. So why did she leave the bat next to the body?”

  David bit the corner of his lip. “She clearly heard you coming. Maybe in the heat of the moment, she panicked.”

  I stared off into the distance. “Maybe. But there’s also the issue of the bat itself. I mean, there are far more effective weapons to use. Like a gun—or a knife even. But a baseball bat?”

  “I will ask her all of these things when my deputies are able to track her down.”

  “Good. I’m curious to hear her answers.”

  “There are a lot of things that I want answers to right now.”

  “I know what you mean,” I said.

  “Although currently a much different thought is nagging at my brain.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  David exhaled. “I’ve just been thinking how unfortunate it is that Miss Terri wasn’t really psychic. Otherwise she could have predicted her impending murder and taken steps to prevent it.”

  I grimaced. “I wouldn’t be so down on her psychic abilities.”

  David’s eyebrows arched. “Really? After what happened to her, I think it’s safe to say that she did not have psychic abilities.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  He squinted. “How do you explain this, then?”

  I took a deep breath. “Maybe she was able to predict her death—just not in time to prevent it.”

  His face strained. “Sorry. I’m not buying it.”

  “Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter which one of us is right. Terri’s gone, and nothing is going to change that—”

  As I finished my sentence, Deputy Walter Mitchell approached David and me.

  “Detective Carlson,” Walter said.

  David turned to him. “Do you have something for me, Mitchell?”

  Walter handed David a document.

  David glanced at the document and read it aloud. “Last will and testament of Terri Baxter.”

  “I found it in the filing cabinet,” Walter said.

  “Good job, Mitchell,” David replied.

  My eyes were drawn to the will. “This should be interesting.”

  David read the first few lines of the will quietly then looked up at me. “It sure is. According to this, Terri’s money, property, and possessions are to be divided evenly between her son and her sister.”

  “The same sister that I saw booking it out of here?” I asked.

  David nodded. “That very one.”

  “I guess we don’t have to speculate about whether Erin had a motive for wanting her sister dead.”

  The deputy spoke up. “You sure don’t. She had a pretty substantial motive.” Walter handed David another document. “I found this bank statement in the filing cabinet as well.”

  David’s eyes widened as he looked at the balance at the bottom of the statement. “Wow. That’s some serious money.”

  “How much money are we talking about?” I asked.

  “Six figures,” David replied.

  My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

  David nodded. “Maybe I should have become a psychic.”

  “No kidding. Who could have predicted that a psychic would have that much money in her bank account?”

  “And that’s exactly why you never became a psychic,” he deadpanned.

  “Fair point.”

  “Anything else, Mitchell?” David asked.

  Deputy Mitchell nodded. He handed David one more document.

  David read it aloud. “A million-dollar life insurance policy.”

  “Look who the beneficiary is,” Mitchell said.

  David looked down at the paper. “Rick Lutz.”

  “The mattress emporium guy?” I asked.

  “I imagine. Unless there’s another Rick Lutz around.”

  “Sounds like Mr. Lutz had a million reasons to want Terri dead,” I said.

  David nodded. “Yeah. By the looks of it, a lot of people had a reason to want her dead.” He groaned. “I have a feeling this is going to be a brutal case.”

  While I started going over the various suspects in my head, the medical examiner called David over. “Detective Carlson. A word, please.”

  “I’ll be right there,” David said.

  Chapter Nine

  Eric Stewart was a balding, bespectacled, pear-shaped fifty-one-year-old. He had a deep, gravelly voice that would have made him a perfect fit to host a morning radio show. Instead, he had opted for a career in forensic medicine. I couldn’t imagine choosing to spend my work days surrounded by dead bodies.

  I know, what an ironic statement, given how I had stumbled upon Terri’s dead body. To me, the difference was that in Eric’s line of work, corpses were inevitable. I, meanwhile, just happened to keep discovering crime scenes by accident. It wouldn’t bother me in the least if I never saw another corpse again.

  David glanced at Eric. “What have you got for us?”

  “Based on my preliminary findings, the cause of death is blunt-force trauma to the head,” Eric replied.

  David winced. “Ouch. What a way to go.”

  Eric nodded. “Yeah. There are far less painful ways to go than a baseball bat to the head.”

  “Have you been able to pull any prints from the bat?” David asked.

  Eric shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s clean.”

  David’s forehead wrinkled. “Really?”

  Eric nodded. “The killer must have worn gloves or wiped the bat clean when they were done.”

  I held my hand up. “For the record, when Terri’s sister was running away, I noticed that she was wearing gloves.”

  David’s eyes widened. “Very interesting.” He glanced at Eric. “Have you been able to determine the time of death?”

  “I would say sometime between ten and eleven o’clock,” Eric replied.

  My eyebrows knitted. “Wait. You mean last night?”

  Eric nodded.

  David scratched his forehead. “Not this morning, then?”

  Eric sh
ook his head. “No.”

  David took a deep breath. “Why was Erin Baxter here this morning, then?”

  “And why did she run?” I asked.

  Eric shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Criminal psychology is not my area of expertise. I just examine bodies.”

  “Right,” David said. “Point taken. Speaking of, when you examined Terri’s body, did you discover anything else that might help us?”

  “No.”

  “What about the forensics team? Have they uncovered anything noteworthy?” David asked.

  “Not yet, but it’s still early.”

  David let out a sigh. “All right. Well, keep me updated.”

  Eric nodded. “Will do.”

  Chapter Ten

  My mind refused to be quieted. It certainly wasn’t from a lack of effort. There was just one key problem. I had expected to get more definitive answers from the medical examiner, yet his replies had only provoked more questions in my mind.

  Instead of my inner monologue being silenced, I kept lingering on what few details I did know about Terri’s murder, to the point where a migraine seemed imminent. That wasn’t all. The more I thought about the medical examiner’s findings, the more things didn’t add up in my head. Granted, math had never been my strong suit in school, but there was something very important missing in this equation.

  My skeptical thoughts were so persistent that I couldn’t keep them inside me any longer. Each of my concerns spilled out of my mouth in a stream of consciousness. “So the killer was meticulous enough to wear gloves or wipe their prints from the bat, but not detail-oriented enough to take the bat with them when they left.” My face strained. “That doesn’t make sense. A smart killer would have grabbed the bat on their way out, even if just to dispose of it later.”

  David squinted at me. “I’m going to have to stop you right there.”

  “I know what you’re going to say,” I replied. “I mean, I saw Terri’s sister fleeing from the scene. Only—that happened this morning. According to the medical examiner, Terri was killed last night. So why had her sister come to Terri’s house this morning?”

  “Sabrina—”

  The thoughts kept spilling out of my mind. “You don’t have a good answer for that, either, do you? I don’t blame you. It doesn’t add up.”

  “Sabrina—” David started to say.

  I scratched my forehead. “What if the killer wanted us to find the weapon?”

  David became stern with me. “Sabrina.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “What? Do you have an answer?”

  He shook his head. “No. What I have is a different question for you.”

  “But we’re not done with this one.”

  “We are for now.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s something I need to know.”

  As I stared deep into David’s eyes, I saw nothing but uncertainty.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Will you please explain to me why you came back to see Terri this morning?” David replied.

  Oh. That.

  With much bigger issues at play, I figured that topic wasn’t even worth addressing. I had certainly forgotten about it until right then.

  “Does that even really matter now?” I asked.

  “It does to me.” He gave me a piercing stare. “Sabrina, I know there’s something you’re not telling me.”

  I let out a sigh.

  He put his arms on my hips. “I’m here for you.”

  I took a deep breath. “All right. Last night, Miss Terri told me that my sister would be found.”

  “Where? When? How?”

  “Those are all very good questions. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an answer to any of them.”

  “What a cruel tease. So she didn’t tell you anything else?”

  “I tried getting more out of her, but she told me that she didn’t have any other details.” I groaned. “I came back this morning hoping she could give me a little more to work with.”

  My breath shortened as I became choked up.

  David pulled me in close. “Sabrina, why didn’t you tell me about this last night? No wonder you were so emotional. It must have been pretty intense hearing Terri make such a bold prediction about your sister.”

  I nodded. “It was.”

  He gazed into my eyes. “So why am I just hearing about it now?”

  “The timing didn’t exactly seem right considering how quick you were to make a joke about Miss Terri on the phone last night.”

  A look of shame came over his face. “I’m sorry. If I had known that she had brought up your sister, I never would have made that joke—”

  “I know.”

  The disturbed look on my face persisted.

  David gazed at me with troubled eyes. “Again, I’m really sorry.”

  “David, I’m not mad at you,” I said. “The person I’m furious with is Miss Terri’s killer. The murderer didn’t just take Terri’s life. In turn, they also robbed me of a second chance to get answers from Miss Terri. Or to find out if Terri was just putting one over on me. Either way, I wanted the opportunity to talk to her again. Now that will never happen.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder. “I wish there was something I could do to clear up the uncertainty about your sister. What I can tell you is that I’m not going to rest until Terri’s killer is behind bars.”

  I groaned. “Yeah.”

  David had said all the right words, but this was about far more than just my boyfriend’s heart being in the right place. It wasn’t just about whether my sister would be found, either. Miss Terri hadn’t just been murdered. Her killer was still out there. Terri deserved justice.

  This had the makings of a wild case. All indications were that David had his work cut out for him. He wasn’t alone. After all that I had seen and heard that morning, it was impossible to get the details of the case out of my head.

  The questions continued to pile up in my mind. Not just about who had killed Terri, but why they had done it?

  Before I could delve any deeper into my thoughts, David tried to pull my head out of the clouds.

  “Sabrina, why don’t you go home? I have already gotten your statement. Besides, I’ll bet you could really use some rest right now,” David said.

  His words hung in the air, begging for a response that never came.

  I didn’t mean to give him the silent treatment. It was more that my mind was still so wrapped up in thinking about Terri’s murder.

  I continued looking at the crime scene, trying to make sense of what was in front of me.

  When a dozen seconds had passed without me giving David a response, he spoke up again. “Sabrina—”

  My eyes focused on David. “Yes.”

  “You can go now,” he said.

  “Right,” I replied. My eyes were drawn to the crime scene once again.

  “Sabrina,” David said.

  I squinted at him. “What?”

  David let out a sigh. “You’re thinking of investigating Terri’s murder, aren’t you?”

  I bit the corner of my lip. “What makes you say that?”

  “It turns out that I’m a detective. Being able to read people is part of my job. And I’m pretty good at reading your body language.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me there.”

  He stared me down. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  I took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to say this—”

  Disappointment filled his eyes. “You are planning on investigating this case—”

  “David, I don’t want to argue with you.”

  “That’s not a denial,” he said.

  I broke eye contact.

  “You’re going to snoop around, trying to find Terri’s killer, even if I forbid you, won’t you?” he asked.

  I stared at the ground.

  “Even if I told you that you could be charged with impeding an investigation?”

  I glanced up at him. “T
here’s a killer on the loose. Would you really waste your time putting me behind bars just for trying to help you?”

  He shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t. I only asked you that question to see how determined you are to investigate this case.” He sighed. “You’re unbelievably stubborn, you know that?”

  “That’s not always a bad thing—”

  He stared me down.

  “When it comes to questioning murder suspects,” I said.

  “It turns out that being stubborn is far less appealing in a relationship.”

  “I don’t doubt that it is, and I’m sorry about that. Trust me. I wish circumstances were different right now.”

  “We both do, but life rarely works out the way you want it to.”

  I arched my eyebrows. “Isn’t that the truth?”

  David glanced back at the crime scene and exhaled. “All right. It’s time to get back to work.”

  I scrunched my nose. “Wait. Does that mean—?”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I still think that the last place you should be right now is here, investigating this case.”

  He began walking back toward the scene of the crime.

  My forehead wrinkled. “You’re not going to force me to leave, then?”

  He turned back around to me. “Sabrina, you know I don’t make a habit of fighting battles that I can’t win.”

  My eyes widened. “Wait a minute. So that means—?”

  “I’m not a fool. I know that if I tell you to stay away from this case, you’ll just go behind my back. But if I let you come with me, I can at least protect you.”

  I smiled. “Trust me. You’re not going to regret this.”

  “The jury is still out on that one.”

  I bumped shoulders with him in a playful manner. “Admit it, you can use all help you can get.”

  He stared at the crime scene. “What I could use is a break in this case.”

  I bit the corner of my lip. “Let’s see what we can do.”

  Before I was able to focus on the details of the case again, I heard a man calling out in the background.

  “No. This can’t be happening!” the man screamed.

  I whirled around. “Who is that?”

  David turned around and stared at the man. “I don’t know, but I think we should go find out.”