A Drizzle of Deception_A Cozy Mystery Read online

  I made a note to visit one of those garden meetings sometime. From the way Trixie talked, most times it was a barn burner.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help with Jeb.” Trixie grabbed her bag from the counter and headed towards the door.

  “Maybe I could talk with her.” The thought flew out of my head before I knew it.

  Trixie stopped at the door. “Certainly dear. Just don’t let on about the crush she has on Jeb.”

  Stormi blanched.

  Trixie looked at her watch. “She’s working the late shift at the library if you want to catch her today.”

  We bid Trixie goodbye and I looked at Stormi. “It’s a slow time. How about I go down and talk to her some more. Maybe I can jog a memory or two of something she’s heard or seen down at Jeb’s.”

  “Be my guest.” I knew Stormi didn’t want any part of someone crushing on her Papaw. “And while you’re gone I’ll try and recover from Trixie‘s visuals.”

  “Go play with Winchester. He’s lazing in his bed in the back. He’ll get your mind off…well things.”

  “Good idea!“ Nothing like puppy breath to turn your bleak day into a bright one.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d find out anymore from Celeste, but for Stormi and Brandon I wanted to try.

  Chapter Seven

  I grabbed my coat and purse and headed out the back door into the alleyway. The library was only a few blocks away so I decided to walk there. As I rounded the corner out of the alleyway onto the sidewalk I was startled by a dark vehicle pulling suddenly away from the curb in front of The Frozen Scoop. I didn’t recognize the large and black SUV with tinted windows. And their sudden departure and squealing tires gave me pause, but I shook off the experience and continued my walk down to the library.

  Our town’s library was small but historic. A hundred and fifty years ago the building was used as the town meeting hall. Now it served the community as a library, complete with modern conveniences like meeting rooms, state of the art computers, and rows upon rows of books. They even had a teen room where kids could congregate and chat or study. Several tables and even a few booths adorned the space. A cardboard replica of the Tardis from Dr. Who stood in one corner.

  Although the library was new on the inside, the city had preserved the brick on the outside so it still looked much like it did over a hundred years ago.

  I walked to the front desk. I noticed Celeste right away from the name card pinned to her dark blue sweater. She was Trixie’s age and just as stylish. Her short grey hair was cut into a pixie cut that made her look 10 years younger, even with her reading glasses fastened to a chain dangling from her neck. She had a kind smile and I liked her instantly.

  “Celeste, my name is Tara Beckley. I believe Trixie told you about me?”

  Celeste put her hands on the counter. “Of course! She’s said so many wonderful things about you and Stormi and Paige.”

  “I was wondering if you’d have time to talk to me.”

  “Yes. It’s time for my break so let me get someone to take care of my station and we’ll head to the break room.”

  After finding someone to replace her out front we headed to the break room. It was a small room with a couple of vending machines, a counter with a sink and a small refrigerator. We sat down at one of the few tables within the space. Luckily no one else was there so we had the room to ourselves.

  I decided to get straight to the point. “Celeste, as you know there’s been some trouble out at Jeb’s place. You told Trixie you hadn’t noticed anything?”

  Celeste shook her head. “No. I wish I had so I could be of more help, but when I’m there everything seems normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “How about anything out of place?”

  Celeste thought for a second. “I can’t think of anything. I normally just go straight to my workshop and it’s always as I left it. Jeb won’t let anyone in the other buildings so I have no idea if anything’s out of place there.”

  I nodded. “Yes, Stormi and her brother Brandon, my fiancé, tried to coerce him into letting us in but he’s adamant he doesn’t want anyone to see what’s in those buildings. Were you ever able to look in them?”

  “No, but I heard he collected items and some of it may be valuable.”

  She’s probably heard some of his tall tales that have weaved their way through the community, I thought.

  Celeste leaned over the table. “I will tell you this. If Jeb thinks something’s going on, then it is. He’s a good man and I believe him.” I was happy to hear that. But then again could she be so love sick it was blinding her? Crap…why did I have to think that?

  “So you and Jeb go back aways?” I tried to probe, although subtly, to see if she would take the bait.

  “Yes, he was my oldest brother’s friend.” Go on…….but she didn’t.

  “So you’ve known him most of your life then?”

  “Yes.” Wow, she wasn’t going there, at least not with me.

  Suddenly she stood up. “I’m sorry to end this conversation so abruptly, but I should get back to work.”

  I stood up from my chair. “Oh that’s fine. I appreciate you took the time to talk with me.”

  “No problem whatsoever. Now you have a nice day.” And out the door she went. That sure was a fast exit. Maybe she knew I was hinting at her crush for Jeb and she simply didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe she was hiding something else.

  Chapter Eight

  After I left the library I decided to stop in the little coffee shop on my way back to The Frozen Scoop. I needed a pick-me-up and a shot of java and a chocolate chip muffin seemed just the trick. I had gone to school with the gal who ran Lizzy’s Coffee Shack and since no one else was in the café, I decided to have a little chat with her.

  “How’s business going Liz?” I poured a bit of cream into my coffee from the station she had set up near the counter. You could choose flavored creams as well, such as French vanilla and hazelnut. I was old school…just plain half and half for me.

  “Since the weather is cooling down, much better. Although the iced coffee drinks saved me this summer.” Lizzy was a petite girl, no more than 5-ft. tall with short blond hair. She liked dresses that flowed around her tiny frame and today was no different. A psychedelic pattern of green, gold, and brown covered her small body. She looked like a short version of Stevie Nicks.

  “I know what you mean. My business slacks off in the cooler months, but the ice cream cakes keep me paying the bills.”

  “I love your ice cream cakes. I had a slice of one at the harvest festival…it was delicious. I need to stop by and order one so I can keep it all for myself.” She giggled. Lizzy was a delight and I wasn’t sure why Stormi and I didn’t try to see her more often. It could be because she was married with two young children and we ran in different circles. She more with the couples who had kids. Stormi’s eyes glazed over when hearing about how little Johnny had performed his first poop in the kid’s toilet or how little Susie did so well reciting the alphabet. I know if you have kids you can appreciate these small achievements of fellow parents. But if you don’t have children, the endless droning can lead to coma moments.

  “Have you seen how big my oldest is getting?” Lizzy popped out her smart phone and scrolled. What did I tell you? She stuck the phone’s screen in front of my face.

  “Wow, she is getting big. How old is she now?” You’ve got to seem interested…it’s the polite thing to do.

  “She’s four. Already in pre-school and knows so much more than I did at four years old.” Lizzy pushed the cell phone back into her apron pocket. “They grow up so fast.”

  “Yeah,” I mused as I sat at a table to eat my muffin. “Why don’t you join me if you’re not busy?”

  “I think I will.” Lizzy grabbed bottled water out of her small commercial refrigerator and sat down next to me. “My dogs are barking.” She pulled one of the other chairs over and propped her feet up.

  I laughed. “I k
now what you mean. Sometimes I even soak my feet at night.”

  Lizzy grabbed my arm. “Oh, I do too! But I have to wait till the kids are in bed otherwise they’ll want to play and splash in the water.”

  We talked a bit more about the town and old school chums.

  “Hey, how is married life treating Stormi? I didn’t know if that girl would ever settle down. Oh and aren’t you engaged to her little brother Brandon?”

  “He’s not so little anymore.” I took a bite of my muffin and relished the delicious moist texture.

  Lizzy’s eyes got big. “I know. I’ve seen him around town. You have a knockout there Tara.”

  “He’s a nice guy too and funny.”

  Liz took a sip of her water. “Definitely. You need humor in a companion, especially when the kids are vomiting or pooping their pants in the middle of the night.” See, again with the kid talk. Okay, let’s change the subject.

  “Liz, do you know anyone in town that has yellow Labrador retrievers? There’s three labs that have been turning up out at Jeb Rogers place almost everyday for awhile, but we can’t figure out who they belong to because they don’t have tags.”

  Liz thought for a minute. “My neighbor has a chocolate lab. Seems I remember him saying that the Hodges family out on Route 22 have a bunch of yellow labs. They use them for hunting quail.”

  I turned on the GPS in my brain. “Route 22.…that’s pretty far from where Jeb lives. I doubt the dogs would go that far.”

  “Yeah probably not. That’s the only yellow labs I know about.”

  I dabbed at the crumbs left on my napkin from the chocolate chip muffin. “You say the dogs belong to the Hodges family?” The Hodges family was one of the oldest in Caesars Creek. In fact, they were one of the founders of the community. The Hodges mainly lived in Atlanta now, but they had a residency on 50 acres out on Route 22. They usually only came in the summer now to enjoy their 4 acre lake and so the grandkids could ride their 4-wheelers.

  “Nobody is probably staying out there right now, do you think?” I asked.

  “Actually the son, Lincoln Hodges, is staying out there. He comes in several times a week for coffee and my huge chocolate chip cookies. He’ll buy half a dozen of them at a time and take home. Don’t you remember him from school?”

  I had to think for a second, and then his face from 16 years ago popped into my head. “Oh yes, now I do. He was one of the cool kids so I guess I didn’t pay too much mind to him.”

  Lizzy laughed. “Yeah, the cliques…I don’t miss that in the least.”

  I shook my head. “Neither do I. So what’s Lincoln doing out there all alone? Has he ever said?”

  “Probably goofing off. He doesn’t have to work for a living with all that family money.”

  “I can’t imagine not working at something though. I would get bored pretty quick.”

  “You and me both.”

  “Interesting. Well, I better get back to my business. It was nice visiting with you Lizzy.”

  Lizzy walked back behind the counter. “You too Tara. Tell Stormi I said hi.”

  “Will do.”

  I thought about Lincoln Hodges, wondering if the dogs could be his. It was quite a coincidence that he owned yellow labs and that’s exactly the type of dogs visiting Jeb.

  When I arrived back at the shoppe I asked Stormi if she remember Lincoln Hodges. She was less than impressed.

  “Yeah…why?”

  “I stopped in at Lizzy’s and we got to talking. I asked her if she knew of anyone who owned yellow labs and she said Lincoln Hodges did.”

  “Is he living out at the summer home right now?” Stormi filled the flower vases on the tables with water. “I didn’t know anyone lived there during the colder months.”

  “Apparently he does. Lizzy says he comes in several times a week to her café.”

  “Glad he doesn’t show up here.”

  “How come? I could tell by the disgusted look on your face when I mentioned his name that he must be on your poop list.”

  “Poop is right.” Stormi emptied the remaining water from the water can into the sink. “I went out on a date with him in school.”

  I turned towards her, a shocked look on my face.

  Stormi grimaced. “You can drag your chin off the floor now.”

  “I never knew you dated Lincoln Hodges!”

  Stormi waved one finger in the air. “Once. And he was a jerk. He tried to get to third base on a first date and I wouldn’t let him get to second. Then he said I was a tease and all the other guys on the football team said I was easy. I told him they lied and to take me home. He dropped me off in the middle of town and I had to walk home.”

  “Oh my gosh!” I was stunned. “You never told me or Paige?”

  Stormi appeared sad from the memory. I now wished I’d never breathed his name to her.

  “I was embarrassed so I didn’t tell anyone.”

  “You didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about. He was the jerk.”

  “I know that now, but when you’re young and in high school and everyone talks….well, you know.”

  I did know. Being a teenager is tough. Dealing with peer groups, mean girls, and jerks plus your studies can take a toll on any kid. Sammi, Paige’s daughter, was handling it great though.

  “That was a long time ago. Lots of things have changed since then.”

  Stormi smiled. “Yes it has. And all for the better. Now if I could just figure things out with Papaw.”

  It was late Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night was one of our slowest during the week. “Why don’t we close up early and go out to Jeb’s again. Let’s really look around the buildings. I don’t think we performed a thorough examination last time.”

  “Fine with me.” Stormi pulled her apron off. “Greg’s working through dinner so I’m free.”

  What awaited us wasn’t what we expected.

  Chapter Nine

  Stormi and I had some remaining daylight left before the sun settled on the horizon. Neither Celeste nor Denny were at the workshops, so the surroundings were quiet. Jeb’s truck was in the driveway so we knew he was home, but we decided to look around before announcing our arrival.

  We walked around the buildings, trying to see if anything looked strange or out of place. I rounded one of the outbuildings and noticed something shiny on the ground. I picked it up. It was a piece of metal approximately 1-inch wide and 3-inches long, but I had no idea what it was or where it belonged. I looked up to see if it had fallen from the outbuilding. That’s when I noticed something strange.

  Scratch marks were evident up high on the outbuilding. This building was at least two stories and I presumed it had a high loft in which Jeb stored his cherished items. On the side of the building was an octagon window, also high up in the loft area. I figured it provided additional light into the loft, but it was too high for someone to break into unless using an extension ladder. That might explain the scratches on the side of the building. The glass in the window also appeared broken.

  As I peered up at the window, Stormi rounded the corner startling me. “What ya lookin at?”

  I grabbed my chest with one hand while still holding the piece of metal with the other. “Crapolooza Stormi! You scared me.”

  Stormi shrugged. “You knew I was here.”

  I grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the building and pointed up. “Look at that cracked window and all the scratches around it on the siding.”

  Stormi stared up at the window. “That’s odd. How would that window get cracked that far up on the building? And those scratches.”

  I looked at the side of the building on our level. There weren’t any scratches, only up around the window.

  “Yeah and the scratch marks are only up there too. What would cause them?”

  “I don’t know.” Stormi was just as puzzled as I was.

  “At first I thought a ladder, like someone put it there to look in. But the marks are all over the place, even above
the window.”

  “Plus it would have to be an extension ladder. That wouldn’t be an easy thing to move quickly, especially with Jeb flying out of the house when the security alarm is tripped.”

  This was getting stranger all the time.

  Stormi looked at my hand holding the metal piece. “What’s that?”

  I handed it to her. “I have no idea. I found it here on the ground and that’s what made me look up, to see if it fell off something.”