Murder as Sticky as Jam Read online

  “You don’t have to tell me twice, I should have known you were too greedy to care about family. No wonder everyone in town hates you,” he said as he walked to the door.

  “You can tell everyone I don’t care about their rumors and innuendo! And for the record, I never slept with Collin, you weasel,” Mona said as she watched him leave.

  She turned the latch after he left, fuming that he had the gall to come to her house and accuse her of arson, adultery and murder. Siting on the couch, she flipped through the pages of the scrapbook. There were pictures of Vicki and her grandparents, pictures of Leo and Vicki taken at Christmas back in high school, a picture of Leo smiling into the camera only two days before he started dating Lacey.

  Mona put the scrapbook back on the table and carried the coffee cups into the kitchen. Feeling faint, she dropped the cups into the sink. As they broke into several pieces, she tried to concentrate. Her head hurt so badly it was throbbing and she could barely focus, her thoughts were becoming jumbled.

  Stewart must have upset me more than I realized.

  Holding onto the sink to help keep her balance, she wondered if she was having an anxiety attack.

  She stumbled around the kitchen bumping against the stove and feeling the heat from the oven.

  She punched angrily at the oven off button, remembering Stewart eating her pot pies and thought, maybe I just need to eat?

  But she felt nauseous and couldn’t stomach any food.

  What’s wrong with me?

  Holding onto the wall for balance, she stumbled into the hallway and gauged the distance to her bedroom. She felt so light-headed she didn’t know if she’d make it to her bed.

  Then something caught her eye. The cover to smoke detector/carbon monoxide monitor seemed to be on cockeyed. She realized there were no blinking lights or indicators that the device was functioning. She shook her head, trying to clear her jumbled thoughts.

  She yanked off the cover, and saw the batteries were missing. She stared at the carbon monoxide detector, trying to make sense of the missing batteries.

  I know there were batteries in here ...

  Oh my Lord!

  Someone’s tampered with the monitor!

  Suddenly fearing the worst, she stumbled back into the table in the kitchen and reached for her phone. Her head felt ready to explode and she could barely stand as she desperately tried to remain conscious.

  I’ve got to make it outside.

  Using all her strength, she put one foot in front of the other and slowly made her way to the door. Heaving open the door, she nearly fell onto the porch. Holding on to a column, she landed on the steps, her eyes nearly shut. Breathing in the fresh air in big gulps, she coughed as the fresh air filled her lungs.

  The evening air was cool and smelled of pine, it was also bringing her back from the brink of collapse. With each passing minute of being outside, her head still throbbed with a dull ache, but she no longer felt faint. She remembered the phone, looking around for it, she found it on the front porch.

  She must have dropped it as she stumbled outside, she thought as she powered it on. She wasn’t sure what to do or who to call, but she was sure that someone, was trying to kill her. Shuddering as she stared at the phone, her cousin was the only possible suspect.

  Mona reeled at the possibility that her cousin tried to kill her. He was furious and still resentful about the will, but did he truly just attempt to kill her? It was a horrible theory, but the only solution she could come up with, especially with her mind in a fog.

  If it was true and Stewart was the culprit, she knew of only one person she could turn to. Even in her present state, she could feel the pain in her chest that came every time her thoughts turned to that one person. She dialed Leo’s number and tried to think of him as a police detective and not the man responsible for breaking her heart.

  Chapter Ten

  Leo arrived at Mona’s house about 20 minutes later. He slammed on the brakes in her driveway, dust wrapping around the unmarked police sedan. He was barely out of the car when he yelled to Mona, “Are you alright? Can you breathe?”

  Mona’s head throbbed in pain, and she propped her head on her elbow in an effort to stay awake. She could not remember ever feeling this exhausted and her head hurting this badly. She nodded her head and spoke, “I’ll be fine, now that you are here.”

  Leo rushed to her side, “You were slurring your words on the phone, I could barely make out what you were saying, I knew something was wrong, so I got here as soon as I could.”

  Mona looked at him and smiled, “I just called you, I would say you got here pretty darn quick.”

  “Mona, it’s been almost half an hour. Where’s the ambulance? They haven’t gotten here yet?” He held up his hand and asked, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Four, I’m fine, I feel better now.”

  “What happened? Tell me, take your time while I follow up on the paramedics.” He pressed at his phone, dividing his attention between her and it.

  Mona put her hand on his arm as she said, “Don’t do that, I’m fine.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that. Tell me what happened.”

  Mona concentrated on the events of the evening; she told Leo about her cousin’s visit, his rummaging in the kitchen and eating her pot pies.

  “Vicki made them for me. They were gluten-free. He’s such a jerk,” Mona said, surprised at how whiny she sounded.

  Leo put an arm around her and stroked her hair. “Shhh. It’s okay. I’m sure Vicki can make you more. Heck, if she gives me the gluten-free recipe I’ll make ‘em for you.”

  A warm woozy feeling overcame Mona, and she wondered if it was the carbon monoxide poisoning or Leo holding her close.

  “So, he was in my kitchen, you know. Stewart messed with my oven. I’m sure of it.”

  “What exactly was he upset with you about?”

  “He blames me because my Aunt Cecelia loaned me the money for the shop.”

  “You Great Aunt Cecelia is his grandmother, right?”

  Mona nodded. “I guess he’s upset because she loaned it to me and not him. But what was he going to do with it? Blow it on a trip to Vegas?”

  “Sounds like he has a bit of a grudge, but do you really think Stewart would burn down your shop and then try to kill you in your own home?”

  “I don’t know,” Mona said, shrugging helplessly “I don’t like to think that anyone is capable of that.”

  “I don’t either,” Leo said, “But I’ve seen too much to know that they are. Stay here. I’m going to have a look around.”

  Mona sat on the porch, waiting for Leo to come back, she thought of the rumors circulating about Collin, that could only be the work of one person, Lacey. But Lacey hadn’t been here today, only Stewart.

  Suddenly she was startled by the loud chirping of her carbon monoxide detector.

  Did I only imagine that the batteries had been removed?

  Feeling like she was losing her mind, she leaned back against the column as she tried to collect her thoughts.

  Leo walked out of the house, and sat down by her side, “I opened the windows to let the house air out. You were right about the carbon monoxide detector, it takes the same batteries as the remote control. The second I put the batteries in, it started going off.”

  “Good, I mean, I wasn’t imagining it.”

  “No, I found the source of the leak, your oven. I’m not trying to frighten you, but it appears that it has been tampered with. I took a few pictures before shutting off the gas. It looks like you were right, someone may have tried to kill you.”

  “The only person who has been to my house today was Stewart.”

  “Were you with him the whole time? Or would he have been able to disable the carbon monoxide detector and tamper with the stove?”

  “Well, I did leave him alone for a few minutes while I went to get my scrapbook from the bedroom.”

  “Interesting, tell me about your day before we ju
mp to conclusions, I know you came to the station this morning. Did you go anywhere else? Give me the timeline of your day.”

  “I went to the shop,” Mona said.

  “The shop?” Leo looked startled. “For what? It’s a crime scene. You can’t go in there.”

  “No, I didn’t go in. I just sort of wallowed around and felt sorry for myself.”

  Leo’s shoulders dropped, and a look of compassion crossed his face. Suddenly he closed the distance between them and took her hands. “I know losing the shop is really tough. But trust me, okay Mona? I’m going to find out who’s behind this.”

  Her heart fluttered for a moment, looking into his eyes, she felt as if she could dive straight into those dark pools, but then she stiffened.

  “Trust you? I thought I didn’t mean anything to you?”

  “What?” Leo asked, confusion clouding his face. “Why would you say that?”

  Mona blushed. “I overheard you talking to your chief.”

  It was Leo’s turn to blush. “Mona, I had to say that. Otherwise, he’d have given the case the Larry simpleton Simmons.”

  Mona laughed at the angst on Leo’s face. “Larry, huh?”

  Larry had been the valedictorian in Mona’s graduating class. He’d left Magnolia Falls to attend Harvard and was sort of a town celebrity. It was no secret he’d always had a crush on Mona, but she rebuffed him regularly.

  “Larry is not going to be your hero on this one,” Leo said stubbornly.

  Warmth swirled in Mona’s chest.

  He cares!

  “Now what about the rest of your day, what did you do?” Leo asked.

  “I went to see Vicki and then picked blackberries for my jam,” Mona said.

  “Sounds productive. I agree that Stewart is the likely suspect, but if you were out most of the day, there was ample opportunity for anyone to have come into your home and tampered with your stove. It’s a good thing you didn’t turn on the burner or you could have blown yourself up. Those pot pies may have saved your life.”

  A chill overcame Mona, goose bumps covering her arms. “Leo! I was moments away from turning on the burner! I was about to make a few cases of jam for the Coupon Clippers!”

  In her excitement, she reached out and clutched Leo’s shirt. He pulled her into him and mumbled something into her hair.

  She tilted her face up to his, their lips inches apart.

  She didn’t dare ask him to repeat what he’d said, only stared into his dark eyes.

  Leo hesitated and pulled back from her. He left a hand on her arm and said, “You’re cold.” He looked off toward the horizon, now getting dark and said, “Where are the paramedics?”

  Mona laughed sarcastically, “Probably they read the paper or maybe they heard at The Burger Barn that I’m a terrible person and they don’t want—”

  Leo frowned. “What happened at The Burger Barn?”

  “Vicki told me Lacey was shooting her mouth off about me.”

  Leo grunted.

  “You don’t look all that surprised,” Mona said.

  “I’m not. She can be petty.”

  “What do you mean? Everyone in town just loves her.”

  “I thought you loved her,” Mona thought, although she tried not to let her body language go into jealous rage overdrive.

  “Everyone thinks she is such a sweet girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Mona said.

  Leo chuckled and replied with a wink, “They haven’t dated her.”

  “Huh,” Mona said. “I thought it was just me, she has hated me since high school for some reason. I don’t know why.”

  “I can tell you why, because all the guys liked you for you, you’re genuine, and she’s ...” he shrugged. “I don’t know, a drama queen. She pretends she’s all friendly and chipper, but boy, when she gets you alone, she can make you feel two feet tall. Trust me, that kind of attitude gets old. It took me two years in the desert to get over some of the nonsense she filled my head with.”

  “Leo, I had no idea.”

  “No one did. By the way, that information is classified on a strict need to know basis. Don’t make me have to kill you, so don’t breathe a word of it to anyone. Not even Vicki, got it?”

  “Yes sir, I’ll take it to my grave.”

  “Good, if you can stand up I’m going to take you to the emergency room myself. You need treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning, and I need to file a report.”

  “I don’t want to be any bother.”

  “You aren’t a bother, it’s important to get this on record, and I want to make sure you are going to be okay.”

  “If you insist.”

  “I do, that is a direct order, now come with me.”

  Mona was still weak as she walked to the car with Leo’s help. She watched from the passenger side as he walked around the front of the car, his perfect body illuminated in the headlights, and she couldn’t help but start to feel her luck turning around.

  I think he might like me!

  Chapter Eleven

  The next few days were a whirlwind. Leo had offered to post an officer at her house, which Mona had vehemently refused, “Unless, it’s you,” she’d joked.

  While that had made him smile, he’d assured her that as much as he’d have liked to be her bodyguard, he was trying to solidify his standing at the police department and ensure the case wasn’t handed off to Larry simpleton, as Leo like to call him.

  Fortunately, the days had been non-eventful. Leo had arranged for her oven to be repaired, after he dusted for fingerprints, and Mona had spent the days making Jam for the Coupon Clippers, filing insurance paperwork, and binge-watching Competition for the Crown.

  On Memorial Day, Vicki had hosted a bar-b-que, but Mona knew Alexander was going to be there and Leo was not, so she’d politely declined.

  Today, the sun was shining through the pine trees as Mona walked down the dirt driveway to the mailbox. Opening the box, she was astonished by the piles of junk mail, advertisements and bills that had accumulated over the holiday weekend. Sorting through the envelopes, a letter caught her attention.

  Stopping in the middle of the driveway, she juggled the armload of mail and tore open the envelope addressed to her from the insurance company. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she scanned the letter.

  Oh my goodness. Please be good news! Oh, please be good news!

  The investigation was still ongoing, and she was anxious that the insurance company would refuse to cover the damage to the shop.

  Reading the letter, she saw that barring any new information or rulings, the insurance company would cover the damage of the fire. The check would be made out to her for the entire amount of the claim to be delivered to her in five to ten business days.

  Mona shrieked with joy, dropping several pieces of junk mail. This was the first piece of good news she’d had since before the fire. Bending down, she picked up the mail from the ground and ran to the house. She couldn’t wait to share the news with Vicki.

  Mona rolled down the windows in her car and played her favorite radio station, singing along with all her favorite songs as she drove to Vicki’s house. Pulling into the driveway, she thought she recognized the sedan belonging to Alexander Kaas sitting at the farmhouse.

  Ugh! Why is he here? Shouldn’t he be opening his shop right about now?”

  Mona opened her car door just as Alexander Kaas popped open the front door of Vicki’s house. Behind him, Vicki stood in a robe and rumpled hair, holding a steaming mug.

  Alexander nodded to her as he walked to his car. Vicki waved from the porch, and Mona watched as Alexander sped down the driveway and out to the road, leaving a swirl of dust in his wake.

  “Vicki! It’s not getting serious with him, is it?”

  Vicki gave her a coquettish smile, as she led Mona into the kitchen. “Maybe. Coffee?”

  Mona sat down at the kitchen counter and nodded. Vicki poured her a mug and got busy rummaging around the kitchen. “How are you feeling? Any s
ide-effects from that ghastly carbon monoxide?”

  “I’m fine. Much better really. And I’ve got news. Wonderful news!”

  “You do? We could use some good news, come on, out with it while I whip up a batch of lip balm.” Vicki pulled out a double boiler from a cabinet and began to fill it with some of her home-harvest honey.

  Mona frowned. “Did Aunt Bee hit you up for the Coupon Clippers too?”

  “What?” Vicki asked.

  “Alana’s blog, Frugalicious. Is she going to feature your lip balm?

  Vicki laughed as she stirred the boiler, now brimming with sweet smelling honey. “No.”

  “What are you making the lip balm for then?” Mona asked.

  Vicki waved her question off. “First you. Tell me your news and then I’ll tell you mine.”

  Mona nodded. “I got a letter from the insurance company.”

  Vicki’s eyes widened. “And?”

  Mona dug the letter out of her purse and fanned it in front of Vicki.

  Vicki snatched it out of her hands and tore it open. She scanned the letter quickly and hooted.

  “The insurance company is going to send a check to cover the full value of the shop and its contents,” Mona shrieked. “Do you know what that means?”

  Vicki excitedly grabbed Mona’s hands and shrieked back at her. “What does it mean?”

  Mona jumped off the kitchen stool. “We’re back in business!”

  Vicki jumped alongside Mona, the two dancing around the kitchen chanting. “We’re back in business! We’re back in business!”

  Mona paused from the celebration and said, “I’m not saying it’s not going to be a ton of work, though, because it is. I’ve been to the building since the fire, it’s a disaster, but not a total loss. We can rebuild. And, if we get the check soon, we can still open this summer. We just have to find the right contractor.”

  Vicki stared at Mona and for a moment, the bubbling of the sweet-smelling honey in the double boiler was the only sound in the kitchen. Vicki rushed to turn off the stove and removed the honey from the burner. She turned to face Mona and said, “This summer? Isn’t that too soon?”