The Sweet Taste of Murder: An Angel Lake Mystery (2 page)

“I always knew you could do anything you put your mind to, even as a little girl. I think the only thing that ever held you back with was caring what other people thought.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You were such a cute little thing. It made me sad to watch you ease back and stand in the shadows as your friends led the way.” Rose patted Elise’s elbow, which was nearly as high as she could reach. “But we all change, dear. It’s called growing up.”

Outside house number two, Elise checked on the lead fastened to the newest dog’s collar. The sweet Golden Retriever, whose retired mother named Frodo, looked up at her panting. “What are you laughing at?” she asked, with a half-smile. “You’re such a happy boy.”

Her other charge, a brindle pug, promptly twisted her leash around until it was caught in between her legs. She let out a high-pitched squeal and jumped, trying to untangle herself.

“You did this to yourself, Winnie,” Elise murmured and bent over to free the leash.

She slid the loop over her hand before turning to Horace. He pushed against her legs impatiently. “My goodness, are you ready for a walk?” That was a key word and set all three dogs lunging forward. She grunted as she tripped. “Fine, then. Let’s get out of here.”

Rose’s earlier comment skirted the edge of her thoughts. Was it true that she always stayed in the shadows? Had she always been afraid to take the first step, content to let other’s lead?

Her life with Mark sure had been safe enough. At least, she thought it’d been.

The dogs scurried forward tails wagging with pleasure and tongues hanging out. Both of her arms remained outstretched as they pulled her down the sidewalk. “Boys! Girl! Hold your horses!” She attempted to whistle, but could barely pucker, her mouth so dry from the effort of keeping up.

In unity, the three noses began sniffing along the ground. The hair on Frodo’s back spiked up while the little dogs emitted high-pitched whines of excitement. In the next instant, Elise’s arms violently jerked across each other as the dogs split directions.

“I’m the boss!” she cried weakly.

A deep laughed rumbled, nearly at her ear. Mr. Henry, who once ran the town’s only gas station years ago, appeared from behind the hedge he was trimming. “Looks like you have a handful.” His white-whiskered face creased into a smile.

“Oh, you could say they are a little energetic.”

He came around the hedge and the dogs swarmed him, sniffing his shoes eagerly.

“Winnie! Horace! Frodo!” Elise hollered, as she tried to skirt the old man.

Mr. Henry held out a hand for the dogs to inspect. It was soon covered in slobbery kisses.

“Yeah, I’d say they are a mite energetic.” He chuckled as he wiped his hand on the front of his overalls.

“I’m so sorry. Here,” she offered her shirtsleeve. “Wipe your hand on this.”

“What? Do I look like I can’t handle a little doggy slobber? It’s fine. Friendly bunch.” He patted the Pekinese on the head. “Such a beautiful day made even better by happy dogs.”

Just then a squirrel made its appearance. All three dogs dove for it. The leashes twisted along both sides of Elise’s legs, and she fell backwards, landing on her butt with a loud squeal.

Mr. Henry blinked. His cheeks quavered with an effort to hold back a laugh. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Elise blew a hank of hair from her face.

“You just need to show them who’s the leader.” He took the leashes from her and wound them up. In moments, he had all three dogs sitting. Elise climbed to her feet.

“Now, don’t you let them pull you. Keep them walking right here by your side. And if they do pull, you just make them sit and see you’re the big cheese.”

Elise took the leashes and wrapped them around her hand as he’d shown her. “Thanks for the help!”

“You got this. Enjoy the beautiful day.” With a nod, he retrieved his pruners and turned his attention back to the hedge.

Elise could swear he was chuckling as she left.

Dignity bruised, she headed down the sidewalk again. “You guys are feeling a little pesky today, but I’ve got you this time.” she muttered. The dogs walked next to her, tails wagging and ears alert. Feeling more in control, she steered them to the trail that hemmed in the town’s park.

Ford Park. A smile crept across her face as she entered the shade of the trees. She’d always loved this trail when she was a kid. Just shy of two miles long, it encircled the man-made Angel Lake the town was named after. Many summer days had found her there with Lavina sunbathing out on the grass.

They were nearing the back side of the trail that ran behind the business district. Every now and then when the dogs got too rambunctious, she made them sit by her side before continuing.

A familiar rumble vibrated through the ground indicating a train was on its way. Through the trees, Elise could just catch a silvery glint of the railroad tracks that ran on top of the berm.

Horace stopped, and his entire body quivered. He turned his tan-colored head back toward her and whined.

“It’s okay, buddy. It’s just the train. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Elise scratched his ears. He stretched his neck and sniffed the air. His black nose flaps moved in and out.

The other two dogs began sniffing. In the distance, the train blasted its horn in staccato bursts ending in one long note. Elise looked over her shoulder, but it was still out of sight.

All three dogs whined now and twisted their leashes around her legs in an attempt to move in different directions.

The horn blasted again, closer now.

“Come on, pups.” Obviously, they weren’t happy about the train for some reason. Elise led them off the path and down towards the lake.

The grass was thick and cool here. She sat down and immediately Winnie scurried into her lap. Frodo paced beside her before trying to climb in too. “Frodo, you’re not a lap dog.” Elise tried to push the big dog away, but he collapsed on top of her folded legs.

Next to them, Horace stiffened. A low growl curled from his throat.

The hair prickled at the back of Elise’s neck. She peered through the woods towards the tracks.

The train was closer now, its horn still blaring. Elise tried to recall any other time the train had done this.

Like a rifle shot, the screech of the train’s brakes overpowered the sound of its horn. Sparks flew as the metallic scream ripped through the air. All three dogs howled in sympathy.

Elise tried to wrap her arms around the dogs and gather them close. “Shh, it’s okay,” she yelled, her voice drowned out by the train.

Through the trees, the engine flashed by. Then car after car, all carrying the same sickening screech.

“What the heck?” Elise scrambled to her feet. The dogs trembled at her movement.

Boom! Like a bomb going off, metal gnawed into metal and exploded into shards. Elise jerked as every muscle spasmed.

She froze for a moment before running towards the noise. The train inched onward until it finally came to a stop. Her temples throbbed as the blood drained from her face. Confused, she shook the fear from her head and continued forward.

What had it hit? What was going on?

An eerie stillness settled over the park as the noise of the brakes quieted. On cue, all three dogs began barking. She continued to run, nearly flying off the ground at some points with her arms outstretched as the dogs dragged her after them.

Up ahead, black smoke encircled the rear of the car dealership that butted up against the tracks. Silver flashes of metal lay scattered in the gouged earth before the train’s engine.

She could just make out the back end of a car. A tire.

Her heart stuttered. Only the the back end. The front half was wedged well underneath the front the train.

A crowd had already gathered at the tracks, all of them quiet and uncertain of what to do. Elise ran up to one man and grabbed his arm. “Is anyone hurt?”

He hitched his thumbs under his suspenders. “No, I don’t think anyone’s hurtin’. I reckon that driver is long past feeling any sort of pain.”

CHAPTER 3

T
hat afternoon time bent in a way that Elise had never experienced before. There was an initial interview with the police, who soon dismissed her when they discovered she’d not actually witnessed the accident. The discovery that the man in the car was Cameron McMahon, the owner of the car dealership he’d died in front of. The numb walk home, only to turn with surprise that the three dogs were still with her because she’d forgotten to take them home. And the final emotional collapse that night on Lavina’s couch, while her friend clucked her tongue and plied her with a martini.

Today, Elise wanted to shake it off. There was nothing that could be done for the poor man, other than taking a hard look at the cause of the accident to prevent it from happening again.

She’d gotten up, dressed and was actually headed out determined to use her gym membership, when a pitiful meow stopped her in her tracks. She looked around the front yard. There it was again, by the magnolia tree with blooms like snowballs at the corner of the house. A tiny face peered out from the branches.

It was the orange cat who’d taken to hanging outside her house recently. She squatted on the porch steps with her hand outstretched and made a few kissy noises. He didn’t take much cajoling to join her on the porch. “Hey there, little buddy. Where’d you come from?”

The orange tabby butted her hand before running the length of his back against her fingers. His purr was deep and rumbling, making her pause to listen to it. It had been a long time since she’d last heard a cat. Mark had hated them. Her eyebrows crumpled together at the feel of the knobs on his spine. “Poor baby, you’re so skinny.”

Still frowning, she stood up. The cat rubbed his cheek against her shin. Her lips flitted into a smile, and she headed back to the kitchen.

After gathering a few slices of lunch meat and a dish of water, she placed them outside in a spot of shade.

The cat sniffed the lunch meat and turned away.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart? You don’t like turkey?” Elise scratched his head again, before looking down at her Fitbit— a birthday present she’d given herself. “Okay, then. I’ll be back in a while to check on you.”

After a few steps down the sidewalk, she turned back. The cat had swatted at the meat, and it dangled from his front paw. “You just like to eat alone, I guess.” She chuckled.

Elise walked up to the last treadmill unmanned at the Muscle Motivators tiny gym. She took a couple deep breaths to mentally pump up for the run.

Next to the machine was a stair climber. Elise recognized Mabel, a recently retired postal worker, who now was practically the gym’s mascot with her twice-daily workouts.

“Hey, lady,” Mabel greeted, after a quick smile.

“Hi, yourself. Geez, you’re incredible, Mabel.” Elise couldn’t help but admire the toned older woman’s endurance. “How the heck do you do it?”

“Well, I tell myself, what’s the other option? Give up and get ready for the Yellow Gardens?”

“Yellow Gardens?” Elise started a light jog.

“Yeah, the retirement home that old people go to pee themselves.”

“Wow. That’s depressing.”

“Exactly. No Yellow Gardens for me. Not while I still have breath and can be moving and keeping strong.”

Elise punched the button to push the speed past her normal rate. If Mabel could do it, so could she.

“So. Can you even believe it?”

“About Cameron?” Elise figured it had to be about him. Nothing this big had hit the town in a long while.

“Yep. They ruled it suicide.”

The vision of the black Mercedes smashed on tracks flashed through Elise’s mind. To do that on purpose? “Really? That’s just so sad.”

Mabel rolled her eyes, her face dotted with perspiration. “Are you serious? Why on earth would that man commit suicide? He had more money than you could shake a stick at. Heck, half the businesses in town owed him in some way or another. And, even though he was married, he honestly thought he was God’s gift to women. You think he’d really off himself and deprive us poor women of his presence?”

Elise shook her head. “You’re terrible.”

Mabel grunted as she adjusted the speed on the climber. Her skinny legs pumped the stairs up and down. Elise eyed Mabel’s ropy muscle and glanced down at her own pale legs, flabby in comparison. She wondered if she’d ever truly be able to run a half-marathon, the one goal she’d had since she was seventeen. A goal that always seemed to get derailed when it closed in on race day.

How fast was she going? 4.5? Oh Lord, she was going to die. With almost a whimper, she increased the speed, feeling like it was her heart she was ratcheting up.

“You hear what they found on his desk?” Mabel puffed out.

Gasping, Elise answered, “No, what?”

“A suicide note. Said he was leaving everything to his daughter.” Mabel took a swig from her water bottle, her legs never slowing down. “‘Cept he doesn’t have a daughter. No children that we know about anyway.”

“Seriously? Well, like you said, how can anyone really be surprised?”

“Oh, I think you’ll be surprised all right. It turns out to be someone you know quite well.”

Elise brushed the sweat from her forehead. “Who?”

Mabel slowed her incline and pressed two fingers against her throat to take her pulse. Satisfied, she stabbed the speed button to a stop. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Does Lavina ring a bell?”

Elise gasped, feeling foolish as soon as the sound left her mouth. But how could she not? Her best friend? Cameron’s daughter? “That can’t be right. I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it, chickee. The note said he was sorry for all the wasted time and then confessed that he’d always loved Lenora.”

Lenora. A name Elise hadn’t heard for a very long time. She was Lavina’s mom who’d died when Vi was only six. Panting, Elise continued on the treadmill, her thoughts muddled.

Mabel grabbed a towel hanging off the arm of another machine. She wiped down the handholds of the stair climber. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

Still shocked by Mabel’s revelation, Elise nodded. Mabel tossed the towel into a bin and headed across the room to the weights. The crew over there welcomed her with cheers as soon as she stepped on the matt.