A Mouthful of Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Book 4 (Frosted Love Mysteries) (7 page)

Missy
called Echo twice the next day, just to chat, and was a bit concerned when her
friend didn’t answer the phone, so she planned to walk over to Sweet Love once
her shop was closed for the day. Heading across the street around 3:30, she was
surprised to find Echo’s helper, a high school gal named Donna, standing
outside in front of the ice cream shop.

“Hi
Donna,” Missy smiled. “What are you doing out here in the heat?”

“I
showed up for my shift a few minutes ago, but Miss Willis isn’t here yet. She
must be running late or something,” the teenager mused, scrolling through text
messages on her phone.

“Hmm…that’s
odd. Echo is usually here well in advance of opening time,” Missy frowned,
pulling her phone out of her back pocket. She tried Echo’s number again, still
no answer. Her next call was an urgent one to Chas Beckett. Walking around the
side of the shop to have some privacy, she dialed his number.

“Chas!”
she exclaimed when he answered. “I’ve been trying to reach Echo all day, and
she’s not answering her phone, and now she’s not here to open Sweet Love, I
think something may be terribly, terribly wrong,” she spoke urgently into the
receiver, trying to keep her voice down.

“Echo
is safe, but it’s a long story that I don’t have time to go into right now,”
Beckett said, sounding distracted. “I’ll call you tonight to explain. You can
go ahead and send Donna home, the shop won’t be opening today.”

**

Missy
hugged her pale and shaken friend when she appeared on her doorstep, looking
bedraggled and tired.

“Echo,
oh my goodness, I’ve been so worried about you, please come in.” She led the
somewhat dazed woman to the couch, and once she was seated, tenderhearted
Toffee came over and gently laid her head on the distressed woman’s knee,
peering up at her with sad brown eyes. The dog’s kindness was her undoing, and
Echo burst into tears, reaching down to bury her face in Toffee’s fur as she
cried, her arms around the dog’s neck.

Missy
sat down beside her and put her arm around Echo’s shaking shoulders, letting
her cry into Toffee’s silken fur, having done exactly that on several occasions
lately. When her sobs eased a bit and she sat up, wiping her face, Missy gave
her a huge hug.

“I’m
going to make you some tea and warm up a Mango Madness Muffin for you, you look
like you could use a snack,” she observed kindly, handing Echo a tissue.

“I
don’t want to be any trouble,” her friend replied weakly.

“Oh
honey, you’re in the South now, this is what we do,” Missy smiled.

Echo
stroked Toffee’s silky ears. The sensitive animal stayed by her side, seeming
to know the simple comfort that she was providing. Missy puttered around in the
kitchen, coming back moments later with a warm, fluffy muffin and a hot cup of
tea, placing them on the coffee table in front of her friend.

“Darlin,
what happened to you?” she asked, brushing a tangle of auburn curls away from
Echo’s face.

“Oh,
Missy, it was awful,” she bit her lip. “So…I told you how excited I was that I
had a date with Ian Barker,” she began. Missy’s stomach lurched at the sound of
his name, now that she knew that he had most likely murdered not only his aunt,
but Echo’s creepy ex-boyfriend as well.

“Yes,
I remember,” Missy said, careful to not let her revulsion show.

“Well,
he picked me up for a lunch date and he was, I don’t know, agitated. So I asked
him what was wrong, and he started yelling about how he had found out that one
of my ex-boyfriends was in town and how I should’ve told him and then he
started talking crazy, saying how he had not only taken care of it, but how he
had enjoyed it. I got really scared and told him that I wanted to go home, but
he refused to turn around, saying that I was his now, and that I had to do
whatever he told me to do. He drove really fast and recklessly and I didn’t
know what was going to happen. Oh Missy, it was so scary, I didn’t know what to
do.”

“Oh
my goodness, Echo, I’m so sorry! Where did he take you?” Missy was horrified.

“He
drove to his aunt’s house and parked in the back, where no one could see us
from the street. When he stopped the car, I opened the door and tried to run,
but the heel of one of my sandals caught on a root and I fell. Ian grabbed me
from behind, twisting my arms behind my back so that I couldn’t get away, and
when I screamed, he clamped his hand over my mouth and nose so that I couldn’t
hardly breathe. There was an open door that led to the basement, and he dragged
me down the stairs into this dark, smelly place, and made me sit in a chair. He
tied my legs to the chair legs, tied my hands behind me and put a nasty rag in
my mouth so that I couldn’t scream. It was awful, Missy, I thought I was going
to die and no one would ever find me. Ian paced around like a mad man, ranting
about how he was finally going to have the life he wanted. He talked about…” a
small sob escaped her, and she had to take a few deep breaths before continuing.
Missy reached for her hand, and Echo clung to her friend like a lifeline.

She
recovered enough to continue, tears streaming down her face. “He bragged about
killing his aunt, and said that now he owned everything he wanted, a house,
some land, and me. He talked about buying a boat and sailing around the world
and told me that if I didn’t behave myself, he’d throw me to the sharks.”

“Oh
my goodness, Echo, that must have been terrifying for you,” Missy said sadly,
as her friend sipped her tea.

“Well,
thankfully, right after that, I heard sirens and a loudspeaker and in a matter
of minutes, the police had surrounded the house and were blocking the basement
door so that Ian couldn’t escape. He got really angry when he figured out that
he was trapped, so he tipped my chair over and I hit my head really hard. I
couldn’t really see what happened after that, but the next thing I knew, this
really nice detective, Gilbert Johnson, was untying me and helping me outside.
I saw Ian in handcuffs being stuffed into the back of a patrol car, and I was
so relieved that I nearly fainted.”

“I
can’t even imagine how awful that must’ve been for you,” Missy shook her head.
“Do you want to stay here for a while? I could make us some dinner and we could
watch a movie or something,” she offered.

“Thanks
for asking, but what I really want to do, now that I know I’m safe, is go home
and take a nice long bath, have a glass of wine and sleep for as long as
possible.”

“I
totally understand, but if you need anything at all, or even if you just have a
nightmare and want someone to talk to, you call me, okay?” Missy insisted with
love.

Echo
nodded. “I will. Thank you for being my friend, Missy, I don’t know what I’d do
without you.”

“Anytime,”
she replied, embracing her friend.

“Can
I get this Mango Madness to go?” she gestured to her uneaten muffin.

“You
know it!” Missy picked up the muffin and headed to the kitchen for a baggie to
put it in. She handed Echo the muffin and walked her to the door, confident now
that everything would be okay.

The
walls were up in the newly built Missy’s Muffins and More, the appliances were
being installed in a week, and all that would be left to do was painting the
whimsical lime green and pink colors of the interior, placing the furnishings
in the seating area and stocking the kitchen. Construction had been completed
well ahead of schedule, and it looked like Missy would be up and running again
just in time for her Ghoulishly Good Ghost cakes that were light, fluffy and
tended to disappear. They were a favorite among the kids of LaChance, who came
into the store for them specifically, every October.

“The
progress looks great,” Missy was pleased to hear the deep voice of Chas Beckett
at her elbow. She turned, happily surprised and gave the handsome detective a
big hug.

“I’m
so excited, Chas,” she exclaimed. “I’ll be able to have it up and running again
before the holiday season starts.”

“That’s
great news,” he smiled at her excitement. “What are your thoughts about maybe
taking a vacation after the holidays?”

“Well,
now that you mention it, I’m long overdue for a vacation. My trip to Vegas for
the cupcake competition was supposed to be a bit of a vacation, but that didn’t
work out too well,” she grimaced, remembering. “Why do you ask, trying to get
rid of me for a while?” she teased.

“Hardly,”
he responded, brushing a kiss across her brow. “I just know how hard you’ve
been working and the…unusual set of circumstances that you’ve had to deal with,
and figured that it might be about time for a break. You could relax, unwind, and
have some personal time for a change.”

“That
does sound lovely,” she admitted. “It’ll just depend upon whether or not I can
get enough new people hired and have them trained well enough to feel
comfortable entrusting my shops to their tender care.”

“How’s
Echo doing these days?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Much,
much better,” Missy grinned, thinking of her friend. “She’s so much more
relaxed and carefree. Now that her secret is out, she doesn’t have to be
careful about what she says and how she behaves, she can just be herself.”

“That’s
good to hear,” Chas nodded. “Personally, I’m glad that the whole mess is over
so that we can go back to being ourselves. I could stand right here in the
middle of the sidewalk and kiss you if I wanted to.”

“Do
you?” Missy asked playfully.

“Do
I what?” he teased back.

“Want
to,” she looked up at him with a gleam in her eye.

“What
do you think?” he asked, inclining his head and pressing his lips to hers ever
so gently.

Missy
smiled against his mouth, kissing him back and glad from her head to her toes
that life had returned to normal. She was more than ready to explore a
relationship with this amazing man and move forward into a new chapter of her
life, but first, she might just take that much-needed vacation.

Epilogue

Detective
Chas Beckett strode into his office, a smile playing about the corners of his
mouth after a nice lunch with Missy and an even nicer kiss to send him on his
way. There was something about her sweetness that made him forget all about the
daily rigor of investigating usually petty crime in the easygoing town of
LaChance, Louisiana. He was very much looking forward to hatching a plan to
take her away for a while, allowing her to find the rest and relaxation that
she needed, under the warm Caribbean sun. The thought made him smile, and
carried him through the rest of his mundane day. His life had certainly changed
since he met feisty, warm-hearted petite blonde who had captured his interest,
and he couldn’t wait to see where the path led from here.

A letter from the Author

To each and
every one of my Amazing readers:
I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
 Let me what you think by leaving a review!

I’ll be releasing
another installment in two weeks so to stay in the loop (and to get free books
and other fancy stuff)
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Stay Curious,

Carol Durand