Halloween Candy With A Side Of Murder Read online

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. Those are just the places that I happen to like.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Sabrina, I’m on to your game. You probably figure that if you can get Daphne to take a liking to a bunch of mom-and-pop shops that she’ll convince me not to buy them and turn them into chain stores.”

  “Say I was doing that. Would it be so bad?” I asked.

  Jake nodded. “Yes.” He shot me a glare. “Knock it off.”

  I held my ground. “Not likely.”

  He scoffed. “You’re wasting your time.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  Jake smirked. “You can’t stop me. I have a vision for the future of this town.”

  “I know,” I replied. “And I hate that vision—”

  He scrunched his nose. “What would give you the impression that I care what you think?”

  “I’m not the only one who hates what you are doing with this town. If you haven’t noticed, a lot of people around here are hurting. Desperation is in the air.”

  Jake shrugged. “That’s not my problem.”

  “If you’re not careful, it will be.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m just warning you. Stop the hostile takeover of this town before things get any more out of hand.”

  “Nice try, but I’m sticking to my plan,” he said. “Especially since business is booming.”

  “Not for everyone. Look at Andrew Conway. His bistro was struggling so much that he thought his best option was to convince his son to burn the place down for the insurance money,” I replied.

  “Has it occurred to you that maybe Andrew’s business was struggling so much because he’s crazy?” Jake asked.

  “So you’re saying that hopelessness didn’t play a part in what happened at all?”

  “Do I look like a shrink to you?” Jake asked.

  I shook my head.

  Jake continued. “Although, it doesn’t take a degree in psychology to know that you have to have a screw loose to be willing to burn your own business down.”

  “You keep missing my point—”

  He cut me off. “No. I just don’t understand why you think that has anything to do with me. What happened at the bistro was entirely Andrew and Todd Conway’s fault.”

  “I don’t deny that the plan was hatched by Andrew and that the fire was set by Todd, but the desperation they were experiencing was a product of the squeeze that your business practices put on them.”

  Jake took an accusatory tone with me. “I didn’t invent capitalism. I just mastered it. Don’t blame me for being great at what I do.”

  “Jake, seven months ago, you opened up a competing bistro across the street from Andrew Conway’s place. Are you really going to pretend like that wasn’t a major factor that led to what happened?” I asked.

  “I’m not going to pretend anything. I’m just going to say that the business world is cutthroat. It doesn’t care about your thoughts and feelings. It is only interested in results. The bottom line is that some businesses just can’t cut it.”

  “Fine. Ignore what is happening in this town. Keep pushing people to the brink. Just don’t be surprised when people start pushing back.”

  Jake scoffed. “Do you really think you can scare me?”

  “I’m not trying to scare you. I’m attempting to warn you before things get any more out of control.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I know how to take care of myself,” he replied.

  I opened my mouth to respond, but he wouldn’t let me get any words out.

  “Now we’re done here,” he said.

  Jake walked away and rejoined Daphne.

  I took a deep breath as David’s car pulled into the parking lot and stopped beside me.

  From the driver’s seat, David saw me watching Daphne and Jake walking toward the beach.

  A worried look was on David’s face as he addressed me. “Is everything all right?”

  I forced a smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to put my toes in the sand.”

  Chapter Six

  It would have been really easy to let Jake dominate my thoughts for the rest of the day. To let my anger grow. But I was determined not to let that happen.

  I had come to the beach to relax, and I wasn’t going to let Jake spoil my afternoon.

  I plopped my beach chair down in the sand, took a seat, and stared out at the Pacific Ocean. It didn’t take long for the sound of the crashing waves to work their calming magic. In a short time, my head drifted into the clouds. All sorts of dreamy thoughts danced through my mind.

  After staying at the beach long enough to watch the sunset together, David drove me over to Home Away From Home Cooking Restaurant for a delicious dinner.

  I feasted on a delicious plate of fish and chips then topped off the evening with a handful of Halloween candy. All in all, it ended up turning into a pretty good day. That night, I went to bed feeling good.

  ***

  I could not say the same thing about the morning. A series of odd events began to unfold the moment I arrived at work.

  To start, Allison Gordon didn’t show up for her customary latte. That was especially strange since I could usually set a clock by her caffeine cravings.

  That wasn’t all. David ended up arriving at Daley Buzz a few minutes later. Rather, I should say, his car parked in front of the shop. He didn’t actually get out of his vehicle. Instead, he just sat in the driver’s seat.

  I watched him sit out there for a few minutes before I exited the shop to check up on him. When I approached his driver’s side window, I made a joke.

  “You know this isn’t a drive-thru coffee shop, right?” I said.

  “I know,” David replied.

  Granted, that wasn’t my best one-liner, but David usually gave me a courtesy laugh anyway. Not that morning. He was as stiff as a statue.

  I saw him holding his police radio in his right hand.

  A look of concern came to my face. “What’s the matter?”

  David was extremely pale. He took a deep breath before replying, “A dead body was found this morning.”

  My heart sank. “Judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing that the deceased did not pass away from natural causes.”

  He shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”

  “Are we talking about a homicide here?” I asked.

  David nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

  A shiver went down my spine. Despite all the murder cases I had worked on in the past, my skin crawled every time a new body was found.

  David, meanwhile, was usually able to keep a level head, no matter the situation. He had been trained to remain unfazed. To be able to stare death in the face without flinching.

  Surprisingly, the opposite was true that morning. His typically steadfast demeanor was nowhere to be found. His emotions were getting the better of him.

  A sense of panic coursed through my body. My gut was telling me there was more to the story than David was letting on. That he had even worse news to share with me. That was saying a lot, considering how David was staring down another murder investigation.

  While I prayed that my instincts were incorrect, I wasn’t about to hold my breath. Additionally, if I was right and another shoe was about to drop, I had no interest in being left in suspense.

  I dug for the truth. “Do you know the identity of the victim?”

  David averted his gaze. “That’s the thing.”

  “What is?”

  David glanced back up at me, his eyes filled with concern. “Sabrina, sit down.”

  My heart began to pound. “Why? Who is the victim?”

  He patted the seat on the passenger side of his car. “Please. Just sit.”

  There was no use arguing with him. He clearly wasn’t going to tell me the identity of the deceased until I got into his car.

  I nervously walked over to the passenger side of his sedan, opened the door, and t
ook a seat.

  “Now will you please tell me who was killed?” I asked.

  He exhaled. “It’s Allison Gordon.”

  My jaw dropped. I shook my head in disbelief.

  He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m so sorry. I know she came into the coffee shop a lot.”

  My heart began to beat out of control. For a moment, I worried that I was about to hyperventilate.

  David gazed deep into my eyes. “Sabrina, breathe. You need to take deep breaths.”

  I put my hand over my chest and focused on slowing down my heart rate. It took a minute, but I was able to keep myself from having a full-blown panic attack.

  That said, I was far from okay. Shock still reverberated through my body. When paired with a surge of denial, it made for a particularly unsettling brew.

  “I can’t believe it,” I replied.

  “I’m having trouble coming to terms with the news myself,” David said. “But it’s true.”

  My mind raced. “But how could this have happened? And who’d want to kill Allison? Not to mention, why?”

  The questions came out in such a flurry that David didn’t have time to reply to any of them. Not that he had answers to give me.

  Even though David was in a bad place at the beginning of the conversation, now that I was having a hard time holding myself together, he mustered some strength. We could ill afford to both be emotional wrecks at the moment. That was especially true for David, as it was his job to find Allison’s killer.

  “I don’t have any answers for you right now. But I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” David said.

  I shook my head in disbelief. “This is just so awful. Not to mention surreal.”

  He nodded. “It always is when you lose a friend.”

  “True. But I was actually talking about the fact that I just spoke with her yesterday.” I sighed. “If I knew that would be the last conversation we’d ever have…” My emotions swelled to the point where I couldn’t even finish my thought. I took a deep breath, waited for my heart rate to slow down, and continued. “I just wish I could have said good-bye to her.”

  He pulled me in close. “I know.”

  My eyebrows knitted. “I can’t help but think that I should have done more.”

  He squinted. “What are you talking about?”

  I exhaled. “When I talked to Allison yesterday, she was really feeling down. The entire time that we spoke, I couldn’t shake the feeling that more was going on than she was telling me.”

  “If she was keeping things bottled up, then what do you think you could have done differently?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I could have pressed her a little harder for information.”

  “Say you did. You know just as well as I do that you can’t force people to talk.”

  I let out a sigh. “True.” I grimaced. “Still, I just—”

  He stared deep into my eyes. “Sabrina, don’t beat yourself up. I’m keenly aware of what great instincts you have, but there’s no way you could have known that something like this would happen.”

  “I’m not saying I should have been able to predict that she’d be murdered. I’m just telling you that there were signs of trouble.”

  “Well, you know what they say about hindsight.”

  “It is certainly twenty-twenty today. I’m recalling all kinds of red flags.”

  “Would you care to elaborate?”

  “According to her, she was having all sorts of problems.”

  “Did she give you any specifics?” David asked.

  I shook my head. “Unfortunately, she wasn’t really forthcoming with details.”

  “She didn’t give you anything to work with, then?”

  “The only thing she was willing to tell me was that she was having a bad week, personally, professionally, and romantically.”

  “That’s frustratingly vague.”

  “I wish I had more to give you. Unfortunately, I don’t.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  “I know that leaves you short on leads,” I said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” David replied. “Maybe forensics or the medical examiner will be able to shed more light on the situation.”

  “I sure hope so.”

  David put his hand on my thigh and gazed at me with a heartfelt expression on his face. “I know you’re still in shock, but I really need to get working on this case.”

  I nodded. “I understand.”

  “Before I do, though, there’s something I want to ask you.”

  My frustration got the better of me. “Look. I already told you. I don’t have any specifics on the problems that Allison was having in her life.”

  “Sabrina, that wasn’t what I was going to ask you.”

  My forehead wrinkled. “It wasn’t?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  I began to blush. “Oh. What were you going to say, then?”

  “I was just wondering if you’re up for investigating this case with me.”

  Talk about words I never thought I’d hear come out of his mouth. He had actually asked for my help. It was such a rarity that I almost couldn’t believe it.

  It was so refreshing to hear him seeking out my aid. It was also long overdue. At least in my mind. Granted, I didn’t have a police badge. But I had solved a handful of homicide cases in the past.

  That said, I was still in such shock over Allison’s death that I was at a loss for words.

  My silence made David concerned.

  “Sabrina, are you all right?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I’m just surprised.”

  “Fair enough,” he replied. “Now, you still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Am I up for investigating this case with you?” I nodded. “Yes.”

  He gazed deep into my eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He smiled. “Good. I have a feeling that with a case like this, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

  David turned on the ignition of his car.

  I held my pointer finger up. “Before we go, I have a question for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “You have been so resistant to me working on cases in the past. So why did you ask for my help this time?” I said.

  “It turns out you have some great instincts,” he replied.

  I smiled. “You don’t know how refreshing it is to hear that.”

  “It’s just the truth. This town is a lot safer because of you.”

  I corrected him. “Because of both of us. We make a great investigative team.”

  “Agreed,” he replied. “Although, I have a feeling we’re really going to be put to the test with this case.”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Now, what do you say we put those instincts of yours to work?” he asked.

  Resolve came to my face. I nodded. “Let’s find Allison’s killer.”

  Chapter Seven

  David and I arrived at Treasure Cove Marina ten minutes later. A fifty-foot-long boat was anchored beside a dock. On the deck of that ship was Allison Gordon’s dead body. An arrow was sticking out of her chest.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What a terrible way for my friend to have died. I immediately looked away as the sight of Allison’s body was just too much for me to bear.

  I began to choke up but managed to keep myself from crying. I looked around the marina. Not just to keep my eyes away from the sight of Allison’s corpse but also to see if I spotted anything out of the ordinary. One thing that immediately struck me was the lack of security cameras anywhere.

  A few minutes later, after the forensics team had bagged up the arrow that was sticking out of Allison’s chest, the balding, bespectacled, pear-shaped medical examiner, Eric Stewart, looked over the body. Once Eric was done, he consulted with the head of the forensics team briefly.

  Eric then approached David and me. I let David do the talking as I
was still trying to shake off my sense of shock over Allison’s murder.

  “You know, in all my time on the job, I don’t think I have ever come across someone murdered by an arrow,” David said.

  Eric grimaced. “I could have gone the rest of my work life without seeing this.”

  David winced. “Yeah. It’s a pretty awful sight.”

  Eric groaned. “And I was just getting used to things finally calming down around here. Then this happens.”

  David nodded. “I know what you mean.”

  Eric looked back down at Allison’s corpse. “As for the body, I’m ready with my preliminary findings.”

  David exhaled. “All right. What have you got for me?”

  “Well, with this case, the cause of death is pretty obvious.”

  “And grisly,” David replied.

  Eric nodded. “The murder weapon is also quite clear.”

  “Right,” David said. “I can only hope that it will be as easy to identify the killer as it was for you to determine how the victim was murdered.”

  Eric’s nose crinkled. “I don’t know about that part.”

  “Why? Did forensics not find any fingerprints on the arrow?”

  Eric shook his head. “Not even a partial.”

  David groaned. “Of course not. How about the rest of the boat?”

  “There are plenty of prints on this ship, but I wouldn’t get excited,” Eric said.

  “Why not?” David replied.

  “According to forensics, they have only found two sets of prints. One, I’m sure belongs to the victim,” Eric said.

  “And the other?” David asked.

  “Most likely belong to the owner of the boat—her husband,” Eric replied.

  “Which means either the husband did it—”

  “Or the killer never set foot on this ship,” Eric replied.

  “That’s a definite possibility. Especially considering that the victim was shot with an arrow.” A look of discouragement came over David’s face. “Test those prints, anyway.”

  “Will do.”

  “How about the time of death?” David asked.