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“CAN I GET YOU SOMETHING to drink?’ Dana asked Gerdie later that evening in the kitchen of the Victorian.
Dana had opened the back door to let some cool breeze in. But she also wanted to be sure that Gerdie was innocent and of course, her secret crime-solving partner, Truffles, whose instinct was always spot on, would be waltzing through the door soon.
As if on cure, the little furry Persian ginger-haired kitty strolled through the back door as if she had no care in the world. Truffles purred gently when Gerdie approached her.
So Gerdie really was innocent. She didn’t do it?
“She’s certainly happy to see me,” Gerdie said.
“Yes, she sure is. Thank Heavens,” Dana said.
“Thank Heavens?” Gerdie looked confused.
“Oh, it’s nothing Gerdie,” Dana said, setting the coffee maker. She then grabbed two cupcakes that she’d made earlier that day. A test for her new recipe at the café. Dana often experimented with new flavors to later bring into the café.
She handed a creamy cupcake to Gerdie on a small desert place with a silver spoon and Gerdie immediately dipped into the cupcake with the rich cream and shoved a mouthful into her mouth.
“Mmm, this is delicious.”
“Thanks, Gerdie. I’m trying something new for next week’s cupcake of the day.”
“Your Grandma Rae would be proud,” she said, her eyes filled with longing.
“I sure hope so.”
Just then Truffles purred loudly.
“Oh, I’m so sorry sweetie. Here you go.” Dana offered Truffles a bowl of treats. The ginger fluffy cat immediately devoured her food.
“Anyway, now that we have some time alone, you were saying earlier?” Dana continued the conversation with Gerdie.
“Yes, well, as I was saying, I did sort of work for Mr. Sampson.”
“Sort of?”
“Yes, child. You see, I might as well tell you this now. But I don’t want it going around town, you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“Now, Mr. Sampson sponsored me from my home country. My original name was...Henriette. I’m from a tiny island in the Mediterranean.”
“You are?” Dana couldn’t believe her ears.
“Yes, child. But this information is to go nowhere.”
“Of course. But who else knows this?” Dana got out her MacBook and flipped it open and proceeded to take notes. “Oh, don’t mind me, Gerdie. If I’m to help you, I need to take notes for myself so I can help put the pieces together.”
“Sure. I guess that’s okay. Just as long as you delete those files later.”
Dana looked up, disappointed at first. “Okay. I’ll delete them later, as soon as I find out who really killed Lichelle and why.”
“Good.”
“Now, as I was saying, Mr. Sampson sponsored me to come look after his kids and we kind of eloped so that I could get my green card. I stayed in the states for a while before Sampson and I divorced and I got remarried and lived up here.”
“I see. So his kids knew you well, too?”
“Well, sort of. You see Mr. Sampson sent his daughter away at some fancy boarding school in Switzerland. I mean that man spent a fortune trying teach that kid some manners, all for naught. She ended up being a spoilt brat who got expelled after three years. Money couldn’t save her. So Lichelle and I never spent as much time together as her stepbrother. You see Mr. Sampson had been married five times before me. I don’t know about that man, he sure liked to walk down the aisle like some sort of right to passage or hobby or something. But I was sure grateful for him helping me out.”
“But why would he leave you everything and cut his children out of the will?” Dana furrowed her brows.
“You see old man Sampson wasn’t easy to get along with. He had several kids through multiple marriages. And before you drop your jaw open, you heard correct. He was married five times before me and about several times after.”
“Wow. I sure hope he signed a prenup each time.”
“He sure did, honey. And he made it known in his will and in the prenup that if any of his wives cheated on him, they got nothing.”
“Wow. But how did he...?”
“He had several kids, child. But he was sterile. He had been since some injury he suffered decades ago when he was younger. I think it was from horseback riding.”
“Oh, dear. Horseback riding?”
“Hmm-mmm. And my dear ex husband wasn’t lucky in love. Much like myself. That’s why we always remained friends. I was the only wife who didn’t cheat on him. The others produced kids to ensure their wealth, but he knew the kids weren’t his. One by one.”
Dana swallowed hard. She felt her head spin. How awful for old man Sampson. “But why did you two...?”
“Oh, well, we were friends, but we just weren’t compatible on every level. And he wasn’t exactly innocent himself. But anyway, I’m really sorry to hear that he’d passed. But he wasn’t exactly young.”
“No. He was around seventy-five, wasn’t he?”
“Hmm-mmm.” Gerdie took a sip of her steaming hot coffee and sighed. “He mentioned in the will apparently, that I was to receive everything. But you know the law right?”
“Oh, right. If anything happened to you then by default it goes to his next logical heirs. And since you are the only one who knows Lichelle isn’t his real daughter...”
“Exactly. That’s why Lichelle came here. She came here to try to bump me off.”
“Bump you off?”
“Yes, she told me that she was angry that her daddy left me everything and that once I’m out of the way then...”
“Oh, Gerdie but then that looks as if you had a good motive to kill her and that it was self-defence. Although, poisoning a cupcake isn’t exactly self defence, is it?” Dana said thoughtfully. She took a sip of coffee and placed the cup down by the laptop then she leaned forward and hovered her fingers over the keyboard.
“So who else knows about the fortune and the will?” Dana asked eagerly.
“Plenty. It’s a great big wild goose chase to kill the goose with the golden egg. And that goose is me.”
Dana swallowed hard.
“What are you thinking?” Gerdie asked curiously, reading Dana’s expression.
“Did the cops know about your argument with Lichelle?”
“Well, the landlord, Mr. Terrence, said he saw me at her apartment and we had a heated argument.”
“Oh, no! So you actually went to see her at the Maison Apartments?”
“Yes, I sure did. I wasn’t about to have a conversation over the phone. I wanted to find out what the hell she was doing in town? She told me that the reading of the will happened and that her dear old daddy was buried last month. They didn’t even reach out to me to let me know. Those ungrateful kids. I looked after them when their daddy and I were together.”
“Right. Of course,” Dana said.
Gerdie took another sip of her coffee and placed the mug down hard on the table.
“So tell me exactly what happened with that confrontation. Start from the beginning,” Dana said.
“I went to the apartment and pounded on the door. She had the music blasted so loud. My ears are still ringing? I’m surprised no one complained to the police about her disturbing the peace.”
Just then Truffles hissed loudly.
“What is it, sweetie?” Dana’s heart stopped.
Troy was at the door.
Troy?
Truffles hissed at Troy?
That didn’t make any sense.
“Oh, um...hi, there Troy,” Dana said, stunned to see him there. She tried to sound as casual as possible.
She subconsciously smoothed her hair to ensure she looked fine and licked her lips. Why on earth was she always acting like a schoolgirl with a crush around this hot looking detective? She needed to get a hold of herself. She’d already been bitten by the love bug before and it turned out she got infected with her ex boyfriend’s betrayal and deceit, leading her to a broken heart that took a while to heal.
“Hello, Ms. Sweet.”
Darn. She hated when he turned all formal with her but then again, who could blame him? He was also in the presence of her friend and former suspect in a case, Gerdie Sue.
“Gerdie Sue.” He nodded to Gerdie Sue.
“Detective.” Gerdie sounded curt and aloof before turning to her coffee and draining the rest of the cup. Gerdie then got up. “I have to go now, Dana. I will see you later.”
“Yes, Gerdie. Sure.”
After Gerdie left, Truffles began hissing again and then went back to nibbling on her snack.
“Hey, there little kitty.” Troy was always very warm around Truffles.
Truffles purred gently in response.
How weird that Truffles hadn’t greeted Troy kindly when he first stepped in. But then again Gerdie wasn’t there now.
Dana was confused but then shook off that weird feeling. Something was going on but she just couldn’t quite pin it down.
“So how is the case going?” Dana asked.
“Well, that’s what I’ve come to talk to you about.”
“Oh?” Dana sounded surprised.
“Yes. You’ll be happy to know that you’re in the clear. Your alibi checks out and you have no motive in any case.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. What about Gerdie? You’re through with her, aren’t you? You won’t be calling her back for any more questions, will you?”
“Not just yet. But as we’ve told her at the station, she knows not to leave town. We might come back to ask her a few more questions as the case progresses.”
“I see.” Dana swallowed hard.
“Dana, it looks as if it might have been an inside job.”
“An inside job?”
“Yes. There was no sign of forcible entry.”
“I see. So it was someone who knew her or who had access to a key?”
“It sure was. Have you seen or heard anything else?”
Dana sighed. “Well, Troy,” I did see the brother again.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I couldn’t. I was going to go after him myself but he’d taken off in a blue sedan.”
“Dana!”
“Listen. Before you get all excited, I have something to show you.”
Dana pulled out her cell phone from her bag on the counter and showed Troy one of the photos on her screen she’d taken earlier that day.
“Good job, Dana. But please call us next time. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, I will call you next time.”
“I’ll need to have this picture downloaded to our server as evidence. We’ll see if we can get a trace on this plate. And Dana, I’m begging you to be careful. I know that one of your cupcakes was involved at the scene and I know you...”
Dana playfully rolled her eyes. “I promise I won’t put myself in any danger, Troy. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, Dana.” His voice softened and Dana felt waves of delight rush through her.
He does trust me?
“It’s the criminals out there, I don’t trust,” he added, looking deeply into her eyes.
Butterflies fluttered inside her belly. She felt her lips go dry.
The magnetism between them pulsed.
Okay, calm down, Dana. He’s just concerned over you. Remember, you’re through with charming men and sweet talkers, right? Remember your smooth-talking cheating ex, Ramone? The one who ditched you for your roommate.
Dana blinked emphatically and drew in a deep breath. Yep, the thought of Ramone was enough to pull her back to reality. She really thought there was something special between she and Ramone, too, but boy had she been wrong, wrong, wrong. She just couldn’t trust her instincts around men. Mysteries and riddles, yep, that was a different kettle of fish all together, but relationships and romance was off limits to her—at least for the next year or so. She was taking a break from men. Period.
But, oh, she loved the feeling in her heart around this hot stud of a detective, with his smooth tanned skin, beautiful chiseled cheekbones, gorgeous ocean blue eyes and silky dark hair. He was yummy. There were no two ways about it. Yet, she still had to keep her head on her shoulders, right?
Focus, Dana. Focus on the case surrounding Lichelle’s murder, not the hot detective investigating it.
“Dana?” Troy’s sexy voice interrupted her daydream.
Darn it.
“Yes,” she answered, embarrassed at her drooling over him.
“Are you all right? You seemed to be off somewhere else for a moment.” His deep voice was silky and sexy and irresistible.
“Oh, um...sorry about that. I was just...” fantasizing about us together. Like that could ever work between us. “Thinking about the case,” she said.
Yeah, sure you were.
“Well, I know this is a little out of place, but since I’m here,” he said, hesitating. Gosh, he looked so charming when he ran his fingers through his mousy dark hair. His sexy stubble gave him a hot look.
“Yes?” Her heart pounded hard and fast in her chest. Was he going to ask her out? Because if he did, who was she to say no? Despite what she’d been through with her ex-fiancé, she really wouldn’t mind going on a date with Mr. Hot and Gorgeous Detective. It would only be a date, right? No commitment. No regrets.
As Grandma Rae would say, You only live once, child. Life is an adventure. Live it. Enjoy it. Take a chance. Try something new.
Or someone new.
“Would you like to...?”
Just then Troy’s cell phone rang and he cursed under his breath before answering it.
Darn it. Why was his cell phone always interrupting at the worst of times?
Well, so much for that. Now she would never know what he was going to ask her? That wasn’t the first interruption either. Maybe it was a sign that nothing could happen between them.
Besides, the reality was that Mr. Hot and Sexy Detective was way too busy for a real relationship anyway. He was always busy on the job and when he wasn’t working he was busy taking care of his ailing mother. What a nice guy. Yet, a nice guy who had way too much drama going on in his life for a relationship with a busy girl like Dana.
The good ones were all taken or unavailable.
Dana sighed.
She got up from the table and gathered the now empty mugs and went over to the sink. She ran the warm water and gathered some dish soap to wash them out while Troy continued his phone conversation.
She felt the cozy fur of her kitty rub against her shin and her heart melted.
“Aww, look at you sweetie,” she cooed. “You must be tired. I’m going to get your kitty bed ready now.”
She knew Truffles loved to curl up by the warm fireplace in the living room on the quilted rug that Grandma Rae had made a long time ago.
When she was done washing up the cups and plates, Troy had finished his phone call.
His facial expression looked troubled.
“Is everything all right?” Dana asked, concerned.
“Not really, Dana. There’s been a new development in the case,” he said, his voice was stern.
“A new development? What is it?”
“I’ll fill you in later on what I know. But in the mean while, please stay out of trouble and keep safe. Lock your doors.”
“Of course, I will. I always do, Troy.”
He hesitated for a moment, then combed his fingers through his hair again. Dana would give anything to comb her fingers through his luscious mane. He looked so irresistible right now. She wished she could reach out to him. Perhaps he reached a snag in the case. Maybe he wanted someone to sit and chat with. But as it was, they were only friends, right? She probably wouldn’t be privy to certain information about the case, even if it did involve one of her customers and one of her cupcakes.
“I will call you later, okay?” he said and brushed her arm.
Jolts of electricity pulsed through her at his warm touch.
My goodness.
Okay, keep yourself in check, Dana. It was just a friendly brush.
Yes, a friendly brush from his soft hand on her arm that sent her pulses racing. She wished it was a brush of his lips against hers.
She drew in a deep breath. How on earth was she going to keep herself in check around this sinfully gorgeous single detective?
She had to try. She just had to.