A Special Delivery To Die For (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 2) (2 page)

Maddie could hear her through the line as she made her way back through the house to the front door. Suddenly, she remembered Astoria was still sitting in the car. She walked out the door and rushed over to her own car to let Astoria out to walk about the yard and stretch her legs while Maddie waited for the police.

Deciding not to reenter the house, she started to investigate the estate’s surroundings. There was a path leading around the side of the house to a beautifully manicured Japanese garden. The stone walkway was well manicured, but even after this morning’s rain, muddy footprints could be seen at the end of the path that lead to a small, seemingly unoccupied gardener’s cottage. She looked closely at the tiny building that stood in stark contrast to the impressive house that she had just left. With several panes broken out and the last vestiges of paint barely visible to the naked eye, the color had faded from the effects of the constantly changing climate to the tiny flecks of hue that seemed to desperately try to hang on to what remained of the small cabin.

Astoria began to stroll down the garden path leading away from the house compelling Maddie to pick her up. Noticing the muddy footprints leading away from the house, she didn’t want her cat to disturb the scene in case it was possibly connected to what had happened.

The path lead to a small patch of earth that seemed to have been the only area of land that was not carefully manicured to give that exotic Japanese garden type feel. The square patch looked as if it were being prepared for something special.

Putting Astoria back into her canvas bag, she went back to the safety of the veranda and looked back towards the path. Taking out her camera, she zoomed in to get a few shots of the path, the cottage, and what was left of the footprints leading away from the house. Even if it turned out not to be evidence, the pictures would tell a very nice story.

Maddie had thought to investigate further, but the wail of the police sirens in the distance told her that she should turn back to meet them when they arrived.

Chapter Two

Three black and whites appeared in rapid succession on the drive leading up to the house. They rounded the curve of the driveway and came careening to a slippery halt on the wet pavement in front. Immediately, a host of officers descended upon the scene with their arms at the ready position, fingertips only inches from their holstered weapons.

Chief Connors lifted his mighty bulk from his vehicle with only a little amount of effort.
My gosh
, Maddie thought,
he looks even bigger than I remembered
. A bitter taste formed in her mouth as she remembered her first encounter with the man and those old feelings started to rise again. She had to force herself to put the past completely out of her mind once again and focus on the poor dead woman she had found presently.

She took a few steps towards the chief who had finally pulled himself up to his full stature and stood gazing about. Maddie approached and as the two made eye contact she could see the recognition fly across his face.
Yes
, she thought to herself,
he remembers her, too
.

“Chief,” Maddie approached, extending her hand in a businesslike fashion.

“Mrs. McDougal,” he responded without returning the gesture.

Clearly, there were hard feelings that were still festering like open wounds from that fateful day last year.

Connors appeared to be biting the inside of his lip. “Didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Didn’t Rachel tell you?” Maddie inquired.

“Rachel,” Connors said. “Who’s that?”

“She’s the one who made the call.”  Connors looked perplexed, but didn’t say anything.  “I was on the phone with her when I found the body. I told her to make the call.”

Connors just stared at Maddie, his face showing a myriad of expressions. It appeared that he choose not to say the words that were obviously fighting their way to the surface and instead turned to one of his deputies to start barking instructions. He turned away from Maddie without another word.

She stood and observed the busywork of the officers before opening her car door to let Astoria, who had been rubbing against her leg, back into the car. She paid little attention to her constant companion and gave her an absentminded pat on the head before shutting her car door once again.

Back in the dining room, she found Connors and three other deputies stooped over Ana’s body, examining the details of the surroundings. Already, one deputy was busy pulling out the yellow crime scene tape she had become all too familiar with. Ana’s shoe, lying on the stairs in her home, gave the appearance that she had fallen down the steps on her way down to the kitchen.
Perhaps the thin heels and extra height had not given her the grace she had hoped for. After all, isn’t that why we wear stilettos, to look more leggy and graceful?
Maddie thought to herself once again.

Connors stood up from the scene and his eyes quickly canvassed the room. He saw everything that Maddie had seen and she was sure that he would recognize that something was amiss in the picture.

“Looks pretty obvious to me,” Connors spoke. “An apparent accident.” He said. “Looks like she maybe missed a step or stumbled as she was coming down the stairs, fell, and hit her head.” He shook his head sadly from side to side. “Sad story, this one.”

“An accident?” Maddie looked appalled. “Is that all you plan to say?”

Connors pulled his body back into a full standing position before he turned to face his nemesis.

“Yes,” he said. “It should be pretty obvious what happened here. Even for you,” he added, a note of derision in his voice.

“Yes, I admit it appears that way,” she gestured towards the spilled wine on the dining room floor, the extra place setting at the table, and the scattered papers. “Obviously, she was not here alone. Someone was with her and there was a struggle.” She pointed at the untouched food. “Look, they didn’t even finish their meal.” Frustrated, she pointed to the open back door. “Someone went out the back door in a hurry!” she exclaimed getting a little excited. “There’s even footprints on the garden path!”

Connors’ eyes carefully followed Maddie’s finger as she pointed out all the evidence in front of them. His face made a poor attempt at hiding his contempt for this woman, but it was clear she was going to be just as insistent as she was the last time they bumped heads. “Well, there could have been quite a few reasons for these things. It’s not our business to investigate the personal affairs of the lives of every person who dies here in Rockcrest Cove.”

“I’m not expecting you to speak on the personal affairs of everyone here in town, but clearly there is more to what happened here than what you’re concluding. This bears an investigation.”

Connors raised his hand and beckoned for one of his deputies to come. “Thank you Mrs. McDougal. Perhaps you can give your statement to officer Fellows here.”

Maddie couldn’t believe her ears. He was going to brush off this case as well. Flabbergasted, she stood rooted in place when the officer tried to redirect her away.

“But…” she tried to interject, but Connors was already moving away from her and talking to another officer about the case. “Chief Connors,” she called. “Connors!” she called again.

Connors showed no sign that he had heard her, although she knew he did.

~~~

The hour before the bakery closed was one of the busiest Maddie had ever seen. The Friday before Veterans Day, the last holiday before the winter season set in, was always busy, but this day seemed to be more than usual. Maddie thought about it and tried to figure out why; she finally conceded that it might not have been as busy as it seemed. It could very well be her frustration at the realization that Chief Connors was about to bungle another important investigation.

Admittedly, she was still brooding over his mistreatment of her with the Emma Larson case, but this time she was convinced that Ana’s death was no accident; something was terribly wrong and the frustration inside her was mounting.

Finally, the last customer left her store and she was free to relax for a minute. Exhausted, she sat down in her office chair and wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm; a strand of grayish brown hair fell from her tousled mop and hung there just to the side of her line of vision. She mused over her dilemma for a little bit longer before she picked up the phone and dialed.

“Hey Gran,” Bailey’s voice came on the line.

“Hey darling,” Maddie said. “Listen, are you busy right now?”

“No Gran. What’s up?”

“I wonder if you could come by the store for a bit. Something has happened and I could use your assistance.”

“Sure, Gran. What is it?” Bailey asked inquisitively.

“I’d rather tell you when you get here,” Maddie said.

“All right,” she agreed, her tone a little higher than usual, her curiosity peaked. “Can you give me 15 minutes?”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting for you in the office. Oh, and by the way, can you stop by and pick up Eleanor on the way?”

“Sure thing, Gran.”

“I’ll call her and tell her you’re coming.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Maddie quickly dialed Eleanor’s number and made the same invitation. She knew that both women were perplexed about the nature of her call, but it was just something she didn’t want to do over the phone or have to repeat over and over again. With both of them there, she could put it all out in the open and be done with it. She didn’t look forward to having to tangle with Connors again, and certainly not so soon after the Emma Larson case.

Maddie took out her notes she had made from her observations at the Stevens’ home and started to peruse them. Maybe it was nothing, but she felt it was at least worth checking out. It had been nagging at her all day and she couldn’t get it out of her mind. She had to do something to make sure that Ana’s death was not going to be simply swept under the rug.

As promised, Bailey and Eleanor arrived at the bakery just as Maddie had requested. Bailey was looking her usual perky self wearing a casual pair of jeans, a light jacket, and toting her designer umbrella that was large enough to cover all three women if needed. Eleanor on the other hand, a professor at the local college, was still dressed in her daytime professional attire. Wearing a tailored jacket, fashionable, yet expensive, black pumps, and swinging a matching handbag, she was poised and ready to take on whatever challenge she knew her childhood friend had in store. Unlike Bailey, Eleanor was never surprised when Maddie called and had pretty much surmised that they were going to be thick in the soup of something very soon. She pulled her iPad out of her bag and was ready to record anything she found to be of importance.

Maddie quickly ushered the two women into the back office and put the closed sign in place so that no one else would be tempted to stop by if they saw any signs of life. The store had been so busy lately that some people didn’t even look at the sign. If they noticed people inside they would expect to be served. Turning off the lights in the front of the store, she instructed her staff to finish the closing routine without her as she hurried to the back room to chat with her visitors.

“Thank you both for coming so quickly,” Maddie said as she entered the room and shut the door. “I just wanted to run something by the two of you if you don’t mind.”

Bailey had a concerned look on her face. “Sure, Gran. What’s wrong?”

“Well, it has nothing to do with me, but I am concerned,” Maddie started to explain to ease Bailey’s rising fears. She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “It seems that there’s been another murder.”

“What!?” Bailey exclaimed. “Who? Where?”  She started looking around the room as if she would still be able to find the body lying in plain view.

“Calm down, Bailey,” Maddie said quietly. “It wasn’t here, this time, and it has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

Bailey visibly began to relax and settle down. She was still a little gun shy after the murder last year. She wasn’t so sure she could go through all of that again.

“Who’s the victim?” Eleanor spoke up for the first time.

“Ana Stevens,” Maddie offered. “I stumbled across the body this morning when I went to make a delivery for an order she placed last week.”

“You found the body?” Bailey interrupted. “Is Chief Connors going to try to blame you for this murder, too?”

Maddie gave her a patronizing smile. “Not this time dear. That’s the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Eleanor asked confused.

“Well, it seems that Chief Connors is not entirely convinced that there was a murder after all.” She took another breath. “Apparently, he’s convinced it was an accident.”

“Hmmm,” Eleanor said in deep thought. “What makes you think he’s wrong?” she asked, taking on the role of Switzerland. As a professor of criminal justice, she was in the habit of gathering all of her facts together before she made any type of comment.

Maddie reached in her hip pocket and pulled out her phone where she had discreetly taken a few photos of the crime scene before the police had unceremoniously removed her from the premises. She handed the phone to the women as her decree of proof.

The two women leaned over the small screen to try to see what Maddie had been trying to capture.

“I can’t see anything on there. It’s too small,” Bailey complained. “Let me do something real quick.” She reached into her large bag and pulled out a few cords and walked over to where Maddie was sitting behind her desk. “May I?”

“By all means,” Maddie said and relinquished her chair to Bailey.

The two women watched her connect Maddie’s phone to her computer and deftly download the photos on the screen and then send the photos to the printer where they had hard copies of the crime scene in less than 5 minutes. With the pictures spread out before them, the three women were able to look more closely at the images and see every single detail.