Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset Page 12

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Missy opened the door for Cody then got behind the steering wheel in the truck. She looked over at Noreen.

  “Weird guy,” Missy said.

  Noreen nodded. “So now we’ve got three suspects. Del, Cooper, and Oliver.”

  “Oliver said he had an alibi.”

  Noreen shook her head. “Oh, Missy. Haven’t you read a mystery book ever?”

  “Uh, I have actually. A lot more than you, I’d like to point out.”

  “Then you should know we have to follow-up on his alibi. I’ll bet Oliver was lying. I mean, he should have had a hard time finding one woman, let alone two.”

  Before they knew it, they were both cracking up in Missy’s truck, still in Del’s driveway. The thought of two women with Oliver was a non-sequitur, but the older Missy got, the less surprised her about people. No woman should have wasted her time with Oliver McCleary, which meant there were probably plenty of women wasting their time with the guy. That was just the way it was.

  As she backed out of the driveway, Cody stood up on the seat between them and started barking.

  “Cody, what the—” Missy turned and saw what the dog was barking at. Next door, a police cruiser and Gordon’s Tesla pulled into Albert Switzer’s driveway.

  “What’s this all about?” Noreen asked.

  “We’re here,” Missy said. “Worth checking out.”

  The driver of the cruiser stepped out. Of course it was Tyler dressed in his uniform. Even from this great distance and through the trees, she recognized his broad shoulders and also his walk. Tyler carried himself a certain way, almost like he was in the military: shoulders back, head up, full of confidence.

  Missy drove the short distance and parked half on the street in front of Switzer’s house. Loretta was on the porch, Gordon had stayed by his car, and Tyler was cutting across the lawn, coming right for her.

  She got out. Cody started barking again. She really didn’t like Loretta and Gordon.

  “Missy, what are you doing here?” Tyler practically snapped. He stopped a few feet from her so they were out of earshot of Loretta and Gordon.

  “She shouldn’t be here!” Gordon called out from his car. “Or her dog! She has no right to step onto this property.”

  Tyler ignored them, but his face was red. “I’m walking a fine line here, Melissa, and I can’t have you interfering. If it looks like you’re influencing this investigation, I could get into serious trouble. Is that what you want?”

  “I’m trying to help.” Missy felt bad. She really wasn’t trying to make life hard for Tyler.

  “Gordon has a lot of friends in high places. He’s part of that old boy’s club. All he has to do is whisper in the right ears, Melissa, and everything I’ve been trying to do for the department is lost.”

  “Tyler, I’m sorry.” She looked past him. “What are they doing here?”

  “None of your business,” Tyler said. “Now I really need you to stay out of this. What were you even doing next door?”

  “Talking to Del…” For a moment, Missy thought about telling that made-up story about someone stealing out of her truck while she was here. But she couldn’t do that to Tyler. “Look, I just thought he was the perfect suspect. He lives right here and the two of them hated each other.”

  Tyler pursed his lips and looked away. Gordon started walking across the lawn.

  “You need to leave,” Tyler said.

  “Why is she here?” Gordon asked. He made it halfway across the lawn before Cody’s barking stopped him dead in his tracks. Missy looked over her shoulder. Cody was pressing her nose against the window and yapping, while Noreen tried to calm her from the passenger seat.

  “She was just passing through,” Tyler said. “Weren’t you, Melissa?”

  “Officer,” Gordon said. “I have my suspicions that this woman removed something belonging to Loretta from the property after Mr. Switzer’s unfortunate passing.”

  Tyler turned back to her. “Is that true?”

  “No. Not true.”

  Gordon pointed at her. “Loretta can’t find certain personal items that were very meaningful—and valuable—to her. It’s not a stretch to think that Missy killed Mr. Switzer given what happened in the past between the man and her father, and then out of spite stole Loretta’s things, to get her revenge on Loretta that way.”

  It was pretty preposterous, actually. “I was just a little girl when all that happened and I didn’t even know about it until after Mr. Switzer died. My mother kept it from me. You can ask her.”

  Gordon laughed sardonically. “Oh, right, like we can trust a thing your mother says. She would do anything to protect her daughter.”

  Despite the man’s imposing size and musculature, Missy wanted to rush and take a swing. Or, better idea, open the door and let Cody gnaw on his leg for awhile.

  “Okay,” Tyler said. “Like I said, Melissa was just leaving.”

  “Hold on,” Gordon said. “I think we should see what’s in the back of Melissa’s truck under that tarp.”

  “What?” Missy stiffened. “Everything in my truck belongs to me.”

  It wasn’t a lie, but still…lawyers scared her. They were so quick on their feet.

  Tyler faced her. “Can we see what’s under the tarp, Melissa?”

  She didn’t want to show them even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “Fine.”

  Melissa went around the back and pulled the tarp aside, uncovering the things she’d purchased Saturday along with Switzer’s cabinet.

  Gordon motioned for Loretta to approach.

  She stepped off the porch while the dog continued to go crazy. Tyler, Gordon, and Loretta all circled behind the truck to see into the flatbed.

  Missy just waited for the other shoe to drop. Loretta would see the cabinet and make a big stink about how she’d taken something that wasn’t hers. But Switzer had agreed to sell it to her, so it was Missy’s. It had to be hers, right? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know a thing about property law, and with Gordon breathing down her neck, she knew she was in trouble.

  Loretta examined the things in her truck, her eyes passing right over the cabinet. Missy lowered her eyes, waiting for the inevitable challenge. She tried to think of what to say, but—

  “Nope. I don’t see anything that’s mine in there,” Loretta said.

  Missy’s head snapped up. She couldn’t believe her good fortune. Loretta hadn’t recognized the cabinet! Maybe it had never been inside the house. Judging by its current state, Missy figured Switzer had kept it in his detached garage probably planning to refurbish it for years before finally throwing in the towel and deciding to sell it.

  She had totally lucked out.

  Loretta turned and headed back to house.

  Gordon faced Tyler now. “Detective Brock, I don’t know why you haven’t arrested this woman yet. She had motive and opportunity. I don’t want to have to take this to the mayor but the way you’ve conducted this investigation raises serious questions.”

  Missy felt awful. What had she been thinking? She wasn’t a detective. She should have listened to Tyler—the expert—and stayed out of it. Now she’d seriously fouled things up for him. Being headstrong was good, most of the time. But sometimes this happened.

  She wanted to apologize to Tyler, but doing it in front of Gordon wasn’t the best idea. She’d have to do it later.

  “Look, I want to help. That’s why I’m here,” Missy said, turning to Gordon. “I didn’t kill Mr. Switzer. He was a nice man to me. What happened between him and my dad was a long time ago, and like I said I didn’t know anything about it until after he died. I haven’t kept anything from the police and I’m just trying to help. Maybe if you told me what you were looking for, I can say whether it was here or not. I spent a few minutes looking over what Mr. Switzer was selling.”

  Gordon stiffened. “I will only discuss this investigation with Detective Brock. Not you.”

  Cody
had finally stopped barking, but still had her snoot pressed up against the window. It was fogged and full of slobber.

  “Can we get a move on?” Loretta called out from the porch. “We have things we wanted to do today.”

  Tyler kept a straight face, but Missy knew he must have been seething on the inside. “Melissa, I’d like to talk to you later. For now, I have to ask you to leave.”

  Without thinking, Missy opened the door and Cody sprang like she was racing at the dog track.

  “CODY! NO!”

  The dog bounded across the lawn. Gordon hesitated for a second, then turned and broke into a sprint. Missy followed, but Cody was so fast, there was no way she could catch the dog. In the blink of an eye, she knew she’d just ruined everything for Tyler and probably herself. Gordon was going to get Tyler fired through cronyism, and now Cody was going to seriously injure the attorney. By this time tomorrow, Missy could expect to receive a formal complaint and be dragged into court. Gordon would easily get a judgment against her, and she’d owe money she didn’t have—

  “Easy, Cody.” Tyler had moved like a flash and gotten in front of the dog. He grabbed her collar and rubbed her head. Cody was still tense and strained against the collar, but Tyler had stopped her so that Missy could get her back into the truck.

  “Oh my God,” she said. “Thank you, Tyler. Thank you.”

  “Just get out of here, Melissa.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Missy had a difficult time focusing at work, which was a problem because they had a lot of customers again. Not as many as Monday but still significantly more than usual. Her fifteen minutes of fame hadn’t ended yet. At least somebody was benefiting from this. Books and Crannies was doing a business.

  Things quieted down finally around four, and Noreen and Missy had a moment to sit down behind the counter.

  “How are we going to talk to Oliver?” Noreen asked.

  Missy laughed sardonically. “Maybe we should question Brett. He’s done more business in the last two days than he did all last month. Half the shelves are bare. He probably killed Switzer.”

  Noreen nudged her shoulder. “Hey, come on, Miss. You’re the one that’s always upbeat. What gives?”

  “Seriously?” Missy knew she was about to take everything out unfairly on her friend, but couldn’t stop herself. “I’ve screwed things up for Tyler. He has a hard enough time right now without me doing something stupid. I mean, he just let Loretta and Gordon enter a closed crime scene. Never in a million years should he be doing that, but that’s the position he’s in because I listened to you and started investigating.”

  Noreen shook her head. “I didn’t make you do this.”

  “No, but you talked me into it,” Missy said. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t. And we both know why.”

  “You’re unbelievable.” Noreen was still shaking her head. “Tell me why you think I talked you into this.”

  “Because you’re constantly pushing me to be more like you, and I’m not. I’m not outgoing and confident and pretty like you are. I don’t go up to men at bars. And I don’t need to. I like my life the way it is. I like working here and spending time working on my crafts and hobbies. I don’t need anything else.”

  Noreen stood. “If you can’t be honest with yourself, I guess I can’t expect you to be honest with me.”

  Missy was too angry to ask what that meant and Noreen was too quick leaving the store anyway. She sat there, behind the counter, fuming.

  ***

  Her shift ended at seven. Missy had planned to go to the gym, then come home to work on the cabinet, but after today’s endless string of disasters she just didn’t have it in her. She stopped for takeout on the way home, food that wouldn’t help her waist line but she didn’t care. At least she still had Cody.

  Her phone rang when she was still a few minutes from home.

  “Hi, Tyler.”

  “Hi.” His voice had a distant quality to it, like they hardly knew each other. “I wanted to call because I’m coming over.”

  “Tyler, I know you have to ask me questions but tonight is really not a good night—”

  “I’m calling because I won’t be alone tonight.”

  “What?”

  “The chief is coming too. He’s taking a more active role in the investigation.”

  Missy’s heart sank. The only reason Tyler’s boss was now getting involved was because he didn’t think Tyler was doing a good job. She felt awful because deep down she knew it was mostly—if not all—her fault.

  She sighed. “I’m pulling into my driveway now…”

  Though she couldn’t say exactly why, when she saw her house she knew something was wrong.

  “Melissa, what is it?” Tyler asked.

  She parked but kept the engine running and didn’t get out. It was dark and there were no lights on in the house but she thought she saw something.

  “Missy, are you okay?” Tyler asked.

  “I think my front door is open.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tyler and Chief Brody came in separate cars, arriving at the same time and parking on the street. Missy still hadn’t gone into the house. In fact, her truck was still running and it wasn’t until she saw Tyler get out of his car that she slipped the gear from reverse into park.

  He approached her car. She rolled the window down a few inches, too unsettled to go the whole way. Tyler smiled.

  “Are you okay, Melissa?”

  Oh how she loved it when he called her Melissa. Nobody else did, not even her mother these days. It had been his name for her, nobody else could use it.

  “I haven’t been home since yesterday morning,” she said. “I stayed at Mom’s last night.”

  “Okay.” He was still smiling, so calm as always. “The chief and I will clear the house. You stay here and don’t get out of the truck till you see us. Okay?”

  She nodded.

  Cody had sat up on the seat and started thumping her tail against the cushion at the sight of Tyler.

  Tyler nodded at her reassuringly, then he and the chief entered her house. She watched as one by one the lights came on in each room as they moved through. Downstairs, then upstairs, then the flood lights in the backyard. Five minutes passed before Tyler came out the front door and waved at her.

  ***

  Someone had ransacked her house.

  All the furniture was moved out of place, some of it upside. Every drawer in her kitchen and cabinets was either open or pulled out of the furniture. She usually kept her mail in a box near her dining room table, right where she did her bills. It was spilled out all over the floor. Upstairs was the same story. They had even pulled her mattress off the box spring and stripped the sheets off it. Someone had taken one of her lipsticks and written on the wall.

  murderer

  A chill ran through Missy. She felt Tyler’s hand at the small of her back. It was the first time he’d touched her since high school.

  “Let’s go downstairs, Melissa.”

  Wiping under her eyes, she led him down and into the living room where all her books had been thrown everywhere.

  Chief Brody was waiting for them down there. He was a big man with a round belly and thinning hair. Missy would have expected some sympathy in his eyes but found none.

  “Hi, Missy,” he said, as if they’d run into each other at the coffee shop and not at a crime scene. “I know this is difficult, but do you think anything was taken?”

  She looked around the living room. “I…have no idea. I’d have to go through everything.”

  “Who do you think did this?” Brody asked.

  “Somebody that thinks I killed Mr. Switzer.”

  The chief inclined his chin and looked down his nose at her. “Did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “You know what I’m asking.”

  “Did I kill Switzer? No.” Damn she hated when she cried, especially in front of others. She wiped under her eyes with her palms and the b
acks of her wrists.

  Tyler stepped up beside her. “Okay, Melissa, I need you to walk me through the last two days. Let’s start with when you woke up.”

  ***

  Over an hour later, Chief Brody stopped questioning her. It was Tyler that had begun, but Brody had quickly taken over obviously not caring for the way Tyler was doing it. The chief left without even telling her he was sorry for what happened. After his car was up the street, Missy turned back to Tyler who was still on her porch.

  “What a jerk,” Missy said. “I don’t believe him.”

  Tyler took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Melissa. I know how upsetting this must be.”

  “I just feel violated…somebody was in here.” She shivered and it wasn’t from the cold night air. “I can’t stay here.”

  “How about Noreen?” he asked.

  Missy laughed ruefully. “She’s probably not taking my calls right now. I kind of blamed her for everything that’s happened, even though it was my own doing.”

  “So call her and apologize.”

  What Missy really wanted was for him to ask her to stay over. She wanted to feel safe tonight, and there was nowhere she’d feel safer than under Tyler’s roof. The feeling surprised her, and she felt herself blushing. Hopefully he didn’t see in the darkness.

  “I think I’ll go with Mom tonight.” Missy shrugged.

  “Okay.” His mouth was still open, like he wanted to say more. “I’ll ask the boys on the late shift to swing by a few times tonight.”

  It was such a small gesture, but she was grateful. “Tyler, I’m real sorry about everything that’s happened. I should have listened to you and stayed out of things.”

  “Apology accepted.” He smiled. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I might be onto something. If I’m right, I think I can close this case.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “And believe me, it’s pretty thin. But it’s enough to keep the chief from arresting you. He was planning to tonight, but I managed to talk him out of it.”