It was almost nine o'clock at night when I finally walked into the house, Bella and Topknot running to greet me like I had been gone a million years and not just the day. The police and the paramedics had come to Adams Creek Farm and pronounced Susan officially dead. Thank goodness for the paramedics because Dale had completely come undone, and he had also been taken away by an ambulance. I made a mental note to call and check on him tomorrow.
Cooper and Willie were sitting in the living room watching a basketball game when I walked in, Bella and Topknot trailing me. Cooper turned the volume off, and he and Willie looked at me.
"Are you okay?" Cooper said, getting up off the couch and coming to give me a hug.
"I'm fine. Susan's husband isn't, but I can't say I blame him. I would be a wreck if something happened to you," I said, giving Cooper another squeeze before we both took seats on the couch, Bella sitting next to my knee. I stroked her forehead while Topknot jumped up on the couch and lay next to me.
"Well, that's not going to happen," he said.
I appreciated him saying the words, but it wasn't like Susan planned for it to happen either.
"What exactly happened?" Willie said. Willie was a detective. He worked in Chicago, now on a leave of absence, and had been staying with me and Cooper at my parents’ house. He was one of my best friends, Cooper's now too, and we had been working hard trying to persuade him to stay in Hunter’s Hollow permanently. I also wanted to see him date my friend Katy as I thought they would make the perfect couple, but so far, my efforts hadn’t worked.
"As far as they could tell, without doing an autopsy, they think she got stuck in the cooler."
"Did she freeze to death?" Cooper asked.
"I mean… I guess she did. Sheriff Blackford wasn't all that forthcoming."
"How cold do those coolers get?" Willie asked.
"Susan was adamant that ours be set at thirty degrees. At the flower shop I keep them at thirty-three, but Susan was concerned with how often the doors would be open, that it would raise the temperature and we would have the wilting issue they had last year."
"Wilting issue?" Cooper said.
"Don't ask. It was pretty traumatic."
"It would take a long time to freeze to death at thirty degrees. Even if she didn't freeze to death, she could've freaked out realizing she was locked in there and had a heart attack or something," Willie said.
"It's just horrible. I can't believe that happened to Susan and Dale. They are really nice people. Not to mention, I'm going to have to tell my mom." I hated to be the bearer of bad news, and my mom and Susan were good friends. I felt I owed it to her to tell her and not let her hear through someone else.
"You should probably do that now. Or at least attempt to call her. Just so she finds out before the grapevine gets a hold of it," Cooper said.
"Good point. Let me try to call her now. Since they’re in California, they’re probably getting ready for dinner." I got up, grabbed my phone out of my purse and sat back down on the couch dialing my mother's number.
"Presley! I'm so glad you called. Your father and I were just talking about you."
"Oh?"
"Yes. We just decided on the date to finally come home."
"You're actually going to come home? I had begun to think it wasn't going to happen."
"Funny girl. We can't help it if we had so much fun we needed to extend our travels once or twice."
"As much as we all miss you, I'm glad that you’ve taken this time with Dad traveling and seeing all the things you've ever wanted to see. So, when is this return date?"
"We thought we would come home around November tenth. That will give us almost two weeks until Thanksgiving to get readjusted to being home."
"That's perfect timing. We will hopefully be moving into our house in the next few weeks, so we’ll be out of your hair when you come back.”
I cleared my throat and got ready to change topics and tell her about Susan, but my mom had already jumped to how they went on this phenomenal winetasting in Napa Valley, so I had to wait for her to finish.
"That sounds great, Mom, but there's something I need to tell you."
"You sound serious. Are you okay? Is Jesse okay? Is Cooper okay? Did something happen at Petal Pushers?" she rattled off questions. I could hear the panic in her voice.
"We’re all fine, Mom."
"Thank goodness. Don't scare me like that, Presley."
"I'm sorry. But I actually called to tell you about Susan Merriweather."
"I know. I know she's probably driving you crazy. I get it. She drives me crazy too. But trust me, she is great at design and your best bet to win again this year, especially with Josie from Purple Posies entering. I don't know why she doesn't stay in Chicago," my mom said under her breath, making me wonder how she knew about Josie when she wasn’t even here.
"Dealing with her was fine, but she’s not fine. What I'm trying to say is Susan is dead."
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments and I didn't want to say anything so my mom could process what I had just told her.
"Did I hear you correctly? You said that Susan is dead?" she said slowly.
"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry, Mom. I know you two were good friends."
"What happened? I know she had high blood pressure, and she didn't always eat the healthiest," my mom started in.
"It was nothing like that,” I interrupted. “She got stuck in one of the flower coolers at the Adams Creek Farm. I'm not sure if it was because of the temperature or something else but in any case, she passed away."
"Oh my. That’s horrible. Make sure you tell me when the funeral is. I want to at least send flowers."
"I will. Dale, as you can imagine, is having a really hard time with it, but I'll make sure to reach out to him and find out what the plans are."
"Are you okay?" my mom asked.
I nodded, even though she couldn't see me through the phone. "I'm fine. I just feel bad for Dale."
"Well, don't forget to call me when you find out about the funeral. I love you, Presley."
"Love you too, Mom. Give Dad my love as well," I said and then we hung up.
"It didn't sound like that was very easy," Willie said.
"It wasn't. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn’t an accident."
"What do you mean it wasn’t an accident? I thought you said they weren't sure what happened," Cooper said.
"The police need to figure out what exactly killed her, but I don't think her getting stuck in the flower cooler was an accident. Plus, I got a glance at the temperature gauge on the side, and someone had turned it down as low as it would go, which is zero. Way too cold for any kind of flowers. It had to be intentional. The temperatures were fine when Susan and I were there."
"Are you trying to say you think Susan was murdered?" Cooper said, giving me that look. The look that said he couldn’t believe I’d found another mystery to get involved in.
"All the coolers have a release mechanism inside to prevent anyone from getting stuck. Like I'm sure all walk-in coolers have. She didn’t get out, which tells me someone tampered with the safety latch and then, with the temperature being turned down, I think it was foul play."
"What did Sheriff Blackford say?" Willie asked.
I gave him a glare. "You know what he said. A big fat nothing to me. But mark my words, this was no accident."
"Well, even if it wasn't an accident and your theory is right, can you do me a favor and not stick your nose into it?" Cooper said.
"You know I can't make that promise."
Cooper did know, as I used to make those kinds of promises and regularly broke them. I had learned from that and now I didn't make promises I didn’t plan to keep. Although now that he was mayor of our small town, I realized I had to be more careful. I didn’t want him to ever look bad because of something I did.
"How about we change the subject," Cooper said.
"To what?" I asked.
"The foundation people called me today. They have finished their work so we can move whenever you’re ready."
I clapped my hands excitedly. "Really? We got the all clear to move in?"
We had put a bid in on what I really thought was our dream and forever home. If you would have told me five years ago that forever home would be a farmhouse back in the town that I grew up in, I would have said you were crazy, but that's exactly what it was.
The farmhouse was situated on a few acres, which would be perfect for Bella and Topknot. The house had the most gorgeous wraparound porch, and I could just envision me and Cooper sitting out there on a pair of Adirondack chairs listening to the grasshoppers and watching the fireflies. When we had our home inspection before closing, the inspector had found an issue with the foundation, but we were able to have the seller make a concession to get it fixed and we had been anxiously waiting for that to happen.
"Really. We can move in at any time. However, if you want my opinion, we should paint first. It's so much easier to paint a house when it’s empty. Or mostly empty," Cooper said.
The old owners had left some of the furniture behind. Which wasn't a bad thing. The furniture Cooper and I had from our respective places in Chicago just didn't really fit the vibe of the farmhouse. I had spent hours on Pinterest finding my favorite look, but I sometimes had what you would call champagne taste on a beer budget. I knew that I would have to slowly change the things I wanted, but Cooper and I both agreed it needed a fresh coat of paint. The orange-yellow walls throughout the house were just not inviting.
"I side with Cooper. It is much easier to paint a mostly empty house. And I'm more than happy to help. Though I need to start looking for a place to live now, since it sounds like your parents are finally coming home," Willie said.
"They aren’t coming home for a couple months yet. You can stay here till then or move in with us," I said and then realized what Willie had said. "You're going to get a place here? Does that mean you're going to stay here permanently?" I said slowly, not wanting to get too excited in case I hadn't understood him correctly.
Willie nodded. "Yup. I gave my notice back in Chicago and I plan on moving to Hunter's Hollow permanently."
"Why are you just now telling us this?"
"I just did it today. I was going to tell you at dinner."
"This is fabulous news," I said. It was fabulous, and not just because I wanted to get him and Katy together. One of the things Cooper and I hated about leaving Chicago was leaving our friends behind. Having Willie here would be awesome.
"Now I just need to get Jared to move here, and things will be perfect," I said, talking about another of my friends back in Chicago.
Cooper threw his head back and laughed. "I’m not sure Jared is a small-town type."
"I left here when I went away to college, never planning to be caught dead back here, and look where I am now."
"All right, good point. But I don't think you should get your hopes up that Jared is going to move here," Cooper said.
I knew he was right. Jared loved the nightlife of Chicago and the excitement of the city. Hunter’s Hollow was lacking in nightlife unless you counted bingo at the VFW hall. He enjoyed all the same things that I enjoyed when I moved to the city. Then after some time I had changed. I wanted to be close to my family where things were a little quieter.
"You guys leave me any dinner? I didn't think I would be hungry, but I am a little bit, actually."
"There is grilled chicken and a pasta salad," Cooper said. "I can go make you a plate if you want one?"
"That would be perfect. I just need to send a text really quick," I said, grabbed my phone and set it down on the couch next to me. I went through my contacts until I found one for Trevor Sampson, who was the front desk person at the police station and one of my friends. I shot off a quick text.
“I'm sure you heard about Susan Meriwether.”
"I was already gone for the day, but I heard it on the scanner. How horrible.”
“I went back with Dale, and we found her. Have you heard anything from the Sheriff?
“No, but I'm not at work tonight. I'm sure I'll find out more tomorrow. I'll text if I hear anything.”
“Thanks, Trevor.”
I set my phone down and headed into the kitchen, the animals and Willie following me. He took a seat at the dining table and Cooper handed me a plate from the microwave, then we both took a seat as well. Bella and Topknot were sniffing the air, but I pretended not to notice. Sometimes that was easier than watching them beg and not giving in.
I dug into my dinner, and we started talking about colors for the farmhouse. I wanted a light gray and Cooper wanted an eggshell white. We had been having this argument for the last month if not more. But my mind was a little bit distracted. All I could think of was poor Susan. Who would want a kindergarten teacher and a lover of flowers dead? I didn't know yet, and I knew I needed to be careful with Cooper being mayor, but I was going to find out.