Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (4 page)

On the drive back to the spa, Liz
looked at the clock on the van’s dashboard and realized she’d have to hurry to
get the appetizers and dinner made in time for the spa guests. She began to
mentally plan what she could fix.

Thank heavens I always
keep some appetizers in the freezer that I can heat up in a couple of minutes.
Those onion bites and the cheese sausage balls I saved from last week will be
perfect. People always love them. No one needs to know they came from the
freezer. For dinner I can do a Caesar salad with a make-it-yourself kind of
soft taco. I’ll fry some onions, peppers, and flap steak, and put it in bowls
people can pass around. With cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, and avocado
slices, the tacos will seem like the best gourmet Mexican food the guests have
ever had. This is definitely a Mexican dinner, so the chocolate mousse I made
yesterday with Mexican chocolate will finish it off. Think I’ll put a bowl of
chopped cooked bacon on the table and the more adventurous ones can sprinkle
some on their mousse. Topped with bacon, it’s one of my favorite things.

She had just gotten out of
her van and was walking into the lodge when her cell phone began to ring. She
looked at the screen and saw it was Roger. “Hi Roger. How are you?”

“Finishing up preparing
for a trial I’ve got that starts tomorrow. It looks like it’s going to take up
the next week or two, so if you don’t mind, I thought I’d come up tonight and
spend the night. Do you have an empty cottage I can use? I know it’s short
notice, but I really miss you.”

The thought of an empty
cottage made her think of Barbara dying in cottage #6. “I’d love it if you
could come up. I really would like to talk to you about some things that
happened here today. Actually, it’s more in your area of expertise than mine.”

“Why don’t you fill me in
now and I can think about them on the way up?”

She quickly told him
everything that had happened beginning with when Bertha had burst through the
door that morning and concluding with her visit to the antique shop.

“Good grief, Liz. I really
don’t like this. The police chief sounds like a bumbling idiot. I’ll spend the
night and leave early tomorrow morning. I can get out of here within the hour.
What time do you serve dinner to the guests?”

“I usually have wine and
appetizers at 6:30, and I serve dinner at 7:15. That gives them a little time
to read or whatever after dinner. As you know, I don’t have a television in any
of the cottages or in the main lodge, although I do have one in my living
quarters. I want them to relax, and the grim news of the day that always seems
to be on television sure doesn’t help put them in a relaxation mood.”

“That’s perfect. Plan on
me for dinner, and I’ll see you about 6:00 unless the traffic gods are working
against me.”

“Drive safely.”

*****

Promptly at 6:00 Liz’s cell phone
rang. “Hi, Roger, where are you?” she asked, seeing his name pop on her cell
phone screen.

“I’m driving up the lane.
Just wanted you to know that I made it safe and sound and on time.”

While she was still on the
phone with him, she walked to the front door of the lodge and opened it,
stepping over Brandy Boy, who barely acknowledged her. She saw Roger’s dark
blue Audi driving up the lane, pressed the end button on her phone, and waved
to him. He parked in the lodge parking lot, got out of his car, and walked over
to her, giving her a big hug.

“What did I ever do to
deserve that?” she asked, laughing. “Actually, I think I could get used to it.
It’s nice to have a man around and particularly an attractive one.”

“Flattery will get you
anywhere, ma’am. Keep it up,” he said. He opened the trunk of his car and took
a small suitcase and bag from it. “Which cottage am I going to be in?” he asked
as they walked into the lodge. Without giving it much thought, Liz made a
sudden decision.

“Actually, Roger, I think
you can put your things downstairs  in my living quarters, if that’s all right
with you,” she said shyly.

“All right with me? Are
you kidding? I’ve been hoping against hope that someday this might happen. Are
you sure?” he asked, cupping her chin in his hand and kissing her.

“Roger,” she said, pulling
back and looking up at him. “I’ve never told you about my niggle. It’s kind of
this thing I’ve had all my life and I pretty much listen to it. When I was a little
kid it told me not to go down the driveway on my bike. I went anyway. The brake
on my bike failed, and I crashed in the middle of the street. A car was racing
down the street and came to a screeching halt just inches from me. If I’d
listened to my little niggle that near tragedy would never have happened.

“When I was in high school
I was the president of our church’s youth group and one day we went hiking in
the mountains. I got separated from the rest of the group and came to a fork in
the trail. I was hopelessly lost and didn’t know which way to go. It was late
in the day and the weather was rapidly turning bad. If I’d had to spend the
night alone in the mountains, I would have been in serious trouble. This thing
I call a niggle told me to go down the trail on the left and I did. Sure
enough, in a few minutes I saw the group I was with a little farther down the
trail. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I’d gone down the other
trail. I probably wouldn’t be here today. Anyway, the niggle is telling me that
it would like you to stay with me tonight. Okay?”

“Oh yeah, Liz, oh yeah! I
just hope this means what I think it does.”

“It does,” she said,
looking down, her cheeks clearly becoming red.

“I want to make a promise
to you. If at any time you want to renege on your decision, I’ll understand,
and it will be fine with me. Okay?”

“Yes, but the niggle tells
me I’m making the right decision. Anyway, I have to get dinner ready for the
guests. We can talk after they leave and go back to their cottages. I’d like
your thoughts on what I told you about earlier.”

“Better get a notepad,”
Roger said. “I’ve got a lot to say on the subject and a lot of things I’d like
you to do, because this bumbling idiot who calls himself the chief of police
sure isn’t going to do them. If the autopsy report comes back that Barbara was
murdered, you’ve got to find out who did it in order to protect the reputation
of the spa. We’ll talk later. I’m going down and unpack. Is this going to be a
problem for the guests, you know, me staying in your suite?”

“If it was the people from
town then yes, it would be a problem. I’d definitely become the rumor of the
moment at Gertie’s Diner, but here I don’t think the guests will even notice
or, for that matter, even care. There’s no reason for them to know, and think
about it this way, they’re only here for a couple of days. They really don’t
care what the owner of the lodge and spa does in her personal life. Plus,
because you’re here before they arrive at 6:30, they’ll have no idea what cottage
you’re in. It will be our little secret,” she said.

“Well in that case I’ll
make it a point to be back up here before they arrive. Sure don’t want to see
your reputation tarnished because of me.”

She smiled at him,
realizing once again how attractive he was. On someone else the grey that
showed on his temples would signal the onset of an aging man, but Roger’s salt
and pepper hair merely made him look distinguished. His sky blue eyes had
permanent crinkle marks next to them from the smile he wore so easily, and she
couldn’t deny that she was looking forward to becoming familiar with a body
that definitely showed signs of being well taken care of.

“Back in a minute,
sweetheart,” he said. “I need to get out of this courtroom suit and into
something a little more comfortable.”

“I’d go with you, but I
really need to get ready for my guests, and Roger, thanks for coming on such
short notice.”

“Actually, Liz, it’s
probably better if you don’t come downstairs with me. We might be late for your
guests, and that could be both embarrassing as well as bad for business.”

“You’re incorrigible!” she
laughed, throwing a dish towel at him.

After dinner and when the last guest
had left the lodge, Roger said, “Liz, I’ll be back in a minute. I made some notes
concerning what I think you should do if it turns out that the woman who died
in cottage #6 didn’t die of natural causes. They’re downstairs.”

            She took the last of the
chocolate mousse bowls from the dinner table, rinsed them, and put them in the
dishwasher. Bertha would be coming in to get the breakfast ready for the guests
in the morning, but Liz didn’t want her to walk into the kitchen and find dirty
dishes left from the evening meal. Liz treasured Bertha and knew that part of
the success of the spa was due to the seamless way she handled everything
associated with it. Liz had come to rely on her, but just as importantly, she
considered her to be a friend.

            Liz always prepared a
couple of different casseroles for Bertha to heat for the guests’ breakfast.
When Bertha came to the lodge in the mornings she assembled a buffet style
breakfast table for the guests, so they could help themselves to the casseroles
as well as croissants, butter, jam, bagels, a large bowl of fresh fruit, and
hot tea or coffee. Each morning, as Bertha turned to drive up the lane that led
to the lodge, she stopped at the mailbox and picked up the San Francisco
Chronicle and the Portland Tribune for the guests. They helped themselves to
breakfast, and many stayed long after they’d eaten, reading the morning
newspapers.

            She put the last of the
dishes in the dishwasher and had just started it when Roger returned. “Why
don’t you sit down, Liz. I brought you a notepad and a pen. I have some
thoughts and ideas.”

            They sat at the large cedar
dining room table, and Roger began to speak. “Let’s assume that the autopsy
shows that the woman, I think you said her name was Barbara, died of natural
causes. If that’s so, then you really don’t need to do anything. I’m sure it
will be in the local newspaper, and you probably know the editor. I would call
him and tell him how sorry you are this happened at the spa, and all that kind
of feel-good stuff. However, if the report comes back that she didn’t die of
natural causes, meaning that she was murdered, I think you should say you’re
going to do everything you can to find out who murdered her. From what you’ve
told me, that bumbling police chief is probably incapable of solving the crime,
so it would only make sense for you to do everything you can to solve the crime
and protect the reputation of the spa.”

            “Roger, do you really
think Barbara could have been murdered? It just doesn’t seem possible for
something like that to happen in our sleepy little town of Red Cedar.”

            “I don’t know, but after
thirty years of practicing criminal law, not much surprises me. I want you to
start thinking like one of the private investigators I use. I really wish I
could be here to help you, but the trial I’m starting tomorrow has already been
delayed twice, and there is no way the judge will grant another continuance.”

            “Okay, I’m ready. Shoot.”

            “I always approach a case
from the standpoint of who has the most to gain if the person is dead. Usually
the first person I look at is the spouse, if there is one. You told me there
was a good chance Barbara’s spouse was having an affair. So I would start by
asking myself if he would want to kill his wife, so he could be with the woman
he was having an affair with. You also told me her husband had just been
re-elected as mayor, and that there were some damaging accusations made against
him during the election campaign. Who was his opponent? Was Barbara’s murder a
vendetta possibly committed by someone wanting to get back at the husband by
killing her? I’d take a long look at any relative or spouse of his opponent.
I’d talk to the editor of the paper and ask him on what facts he based the
accusations printed in the paper. Maybe the mayor had some hidden baggage and
someone wanted to kill his wife because of that. Maybe the mayor knew
something, and someone had threatened that if he didn’t keep quiet, his wife
would be killed. I know it sounds like I’m talking about some real longshots
here, but I’m looking for anything that might lead to identifying the killer.
I’ve found that one thing always leads to another.”

            “I can’t believe someone
would kill over a lost election.”

            “You’re being naïve.
People will kill over anything and often do,” Roger said. “So at this point
we’ve identified two possible suspects. Let’s start by taking a look at the
antique store situation, which I find very interesting. Barbara’s partner
doesn’t seem to have anything to gain by Barbara being dead if what she says is
true about her being the money behind the shop and Barbara being what I would
call the front woman. Barbara knew everybody in the area and was an expert in a
specific style of antiques, but did Barbara’s partner tell you the truth?
Perhaps Barbara and she both put in an equal amount of money, and if Barbara’s
dead, she gets it all. Maybe they really were legal partners and the shop was
in both of their names. I can help you with getting information about the
ownership of the store. Sean, one of my private investigators, can do a
computer search and easily find that kind of information.”

            “That would be great. I
wouldn’t know how or where to begin.”

            “Trust me, it’s not that
big a deal. City records would have all that information. It’s pretty easy to
find those records. Let’s go on. Then there’s the antique guy who threatened to
sue her over the Tiffany lamp. You should probably take a close look at him.
Since he lives in San Francisco, I’ll have Sean look into that as well.
Shouldn’t be too difficult. I imagine he’s well-known in the antique world.
Sean can check out that angle.”

            “I’m totally new at
this,” Liz said, “but the person I wondered about from the beginning is Darcy,
the high school principal who was at Dave’s house when I went there. She’s the
one Seth, the police chief, mentioned was having an affair with Dave. Maybe she
wants to marry Dave. Don’t forget Linda, the antique store person, told me
Barbara was a very strong Catholic and wouldn’t divorce Dave. I think Darcy
should be investigated.”

            “Couldn’t agree more. Now
you’re starting to think like a private eye. You told me once that Gertie’s
Diner was the hotbed for rumors in town. You might want to go there and see if
you can find out anything. If they were having an affair, someone there
probably knows about it.”

            “I’ll go there tomorrow.”

            “You mentioned Barbara
had a facial and a massage yesterday, and from what you told me, it sure didn’t
sound like the police chief did a very thorough job of investigating that
angle, although I think it’s kind of a stretch. I can’t come up with a motive
either one of the spa employees might have had to kill Barbara, but believe me,
I know for a fact that stranger things have happened.”

            “Judy’s coming up and
we’d planned on getting some treatments. I think I’ll book a treatment with
each of those two women, and it would be a very natural thing to talk about it,
if, in fact, it turns out she was murdered. Roger, the thing that really scares
me is the bad publicity the spa will get if she was murdered. I don’t know how
I can get around that.”

            “You can’t, and that’s
why you need to do everything you can to find out who killed Barbara if she was
murdered. The faster you can do that, the less time the press will have to make
a big deal of it.”

            “If she didn’t die of
natural causes, I assume the coroner will be able to pin down the exact cause
of death.”

            “Yes, he should be able
to make that determination, but what if she died from a combination of sleeping
pills and alcohol? That wouldn’t necessarily mean that she committed suicide,
it just means that was the cause of death. Maybe someone slipped a foreign substance
in something she drank or forced her to drink it. That’s where it gets
difficult and interesting, and that’s why it’s important to find out who might
have had a motive to kill her. Once you get a list of the people who might have
had a motive for seeing her dead you’ll need to find out where each of those
people was at the time she was murdered.”

            Liz nervously ran her
fingers through her hair. “I have no idea how I can find out all the things
you’ve just mentioned. I just hope that the coroner determines she died from
natural causes.”

            “For your sake and the
sake of the spa, I hope so too, but you need to be prepared for the
alternative. Liz, people trust you and like you, and you’re one of those people
who is very easy to talk to. I think that’s one reason you’ve made such a
success of the spa. Just do what comes naturally. Talk to people. You’ll find
out what you need to know in the natural flow of things. Anyway, enough about
Barbara. I have to get up very early, and it’s time for bed. Have any second
doubts?” he asked, taking her hand in his.

            “No, I feel as sure about
this as I have about anything in a long time.”

            “Good. Look at it this
way. We’re two older people who, I believe, have come to care deeply about each
other. Let’s see where it goes. This is new territory for both of us.”