Scrambled to Death: A Sage and Dash Cozy Mystery (10 page)

Owen Masters stopped by the restaurant to see Libby. The couple was talking at the counter when Rosie walked through the door. She was coming from the kitchen with a fresh batch of sweet tea. Rosie set it on the counter, and then emptied the older contents into a container. Once it was ready, she dumped in the tea.

“Ooh, I’d love a glass of that,” Owen said. “Could I get it half and half with lemonade?”

“I’ll get it for you,” Libby answered, scooping up a bit of ice and adding it to a glass. Libby couldn’t stop smiling. She was happy that Owen came by to see her, even though they already had a date for the following night. He might be somebody special, she needed to remind herself to slow down. She always moved too quickly and burned her bridges behind her. She would do something stupid, have a crazy moment and scare them away, or they’d get too attached and she’d scamper before things could get too serious. This time, she wanted to do things right. A normal relationship, like other people enjoyed. She’d screwed up so many times in the past, she wasn’t sure she trusted herself to keep things on the straight and narrow. She’d at least try. Owen Masters was a catch, and Libby found him a little more attractive, mentally and physically, each and every day. 

“So, your mom tells me you’re going on a date with Dr. Tucker,” he started.

Libby spun toward him, her eyes like a deer in headlights. She slowly shook her head and before she could mouth the words ‘no’ Rosie was already on the warpath.

“Really? You couldn’t keep it to yourself for more than a few minutes?”

“Was I not supposed to say anything? I’m sorry,” Own offered.

Libby patted his hand and placed his drink on the counter before him. “It’s okay, it was me. I shouldn’t have spoken of it so soon.”

“Mom…” Rosie bit her lower lip, trying to keep in the flow of words that wanted to fly from her mouth with venom. Instead, she slammed through the kitchen door.

“I need to talk to her. I’ll be a minute, but I’ll be right back. Don’t you go anywhere.” She poured on the charm and a smile before turning to follow her daughter. “I didn’t think…it was in casual conversation on the phone. I’m happy for you, and expressed it. I didn’t realize you wanted to keep it a secret. I’m sorry.”

Rosie shook her head. “Stop talking about my personal life to everybody. Can’t you for once, leave me out of things? There’s all this pressure…”

“Pressure?”

“What if things don’t work out?”

Libby understood this wasn’t about Owen. It was simply about Rosie. She wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Success doesn’t come from being perfect, it comes from trying. There is no right or wrong answer here, sweetheart. What are you afraid of? Really? Don’t give up on yourself, Rosie. You don’t want to grow up to be a bitter old woman because you were afraid of trying things. You have such tight control on your life, don’t you want to have a little fun?”

“I’ve got responsibilities. I can’t go messing around and taking off to do whatever I feel like.” A hot tear welled up in the corner of Rosie’s eye. She wiped at it, as it rolled down her cheek.

“Daddy left because of our relationship, not because of anything you did. Not all men are bad. A lot of men are amazing, wonderful people. Give Jeff a chance to shower you with love and affection, Rosie. Let him in. He’s a good man. You deserve happiness of your own. All you do is work and worry about me. It’s time to live your life.”

Rosemary nodded. There was nothing left to say. There were so many things inside of her she’d bottled up for so long, she didn’t know how to put them aside. It was time. Time to live. Time to let go of her fears. It was time to remember the strong woman that she knew was inside, the one that didn’t let fear bury her time and time again.

That’s when it hit her. Time. What time did the murders happen? Who would have access? Who should be at work? Who needed to kill two people on two separate days and not on the same day? If one person was going to kill two people, why would they take the chance of doing them an entire day apart? Wouldn’t they want to get it over with? Or – why did they choose to risk exposing themselves two days in a row…unless it wasn’t exposing themselves…and going out for breakfast was a normal part of their day.

Regulars were Gloria, Myrtle, Patsy, and Viola, Matt, and a few others. She knew Myrtle and Gloria went between the two restaurants, wasn’t sure about the other ladies, but she’d look into their morning patterns. And what about Matt? Could he have been at Patterson’s the day Christopher Banks died? He was at the Nook when Peyton was killed.

Rosie scampered to the counter, grabbed a pad and pen and wrote down a couple of notes. She needed to know a few more details, but three people’s schedules were awfully similar to when the men died. Myrtle made a comment that she’d come in after they removed Christopher, but could she be saying it aloud, hoping to make it an alibi? And where exactly was Gloria?

Myrtle found her way to The Nook. She was usually a breakfast regular, but something was different today. Gloria, her usual eating companion was nowhere to be found, and she was flushed with color. Pink and red blotches covered her ivory complexion. Myrtle looked through Libby. She drew a deep breath and asked if Rosie was there.

“I’ll go get her for you. Are you okay? You’re a bit flushed.” Libby’s concern was sincere. Myrtle normally had calm written over her face. Today was different. She appeared agitated.

Libby went back to the kitchen and spoke with her daughter. “Myrtle is out front looking for you. She looks a wee bit disheveled. Not sure what’s up. You’ll see.”

Rosie followed her mother out to the front of the restaurant. “Myrtle? You wanted to speak with me?”

“Oh Rosie, dear, it’s Gloria. She’s up and taken off. She’s not answering her phone, and nobody knows where to find her. When she didn’t answer, I stopped by her house. There’s was a letter taped to the door. I mean, I wasn’t sure who it was for, since it didn’t have a name on it. I might have peaked inside the envelope. She said she couldn’t hide her truth anymore and had to leave. She said she left a letter with you to explain more. It was a bit cryptic.”

“Me?” Rosie shook her head, completely unaware that Gloria was supposed to have contacted her or leave some sort of note. “I haven’t seen her.”

“Oh, no, not with you – but here. Something about a rocking chair and a cat? None of it made sense.”

“She put a letter near Dash’s chair? She must mean the back porch. We can go look, but I’m not sure how we wouldn’t have noticed it.” Rosie led Myrtle through the door that attached to their house. Once there, she went to the door that opened up to the back porch. “There’s the chair she’s probably talking about. I don’t see a letter.”

“Why would she leave a letter here, of all places?”

Rosie slipped her hand under the cushion, and sure enough there was a small envelope. “Well, I’ll be. I wonder when she did that?”

“Open it! What does it say?” Myrtle’s agitation grew. “Hurry!”

Rosie unsealed the letter and pulled out the paper. “
First, I didn’t have anything to do with the murders. I might know more than I should, and got scared. When that guy asked me for help the other day, I saw a brochure on the passenger side of his vehicle. I think he saw me looking at it, because he started acting weird. I blew it off, thinking nothing of it at first, but then I started to wonder why he got antsy. Maybe he thought he’d tucked it away? I’m not sure. Anyway, I’m taking an extended vacation with some money I’ve saved. That man…I bumped into him again and I got a weird tingling inside, like I was being watched. Go talk to Charlie Staggs. I think he may have more information than he’s let on. I’m not sure when I’ll return, but for now, I think it’s best that I keep my distance. Myrtle, I knew you’d open that note on my door. Nobody else would touch an envelope not addressed to them, but I knew you would. I’m so grateful you did. Maybe it will help solve the horrendous crimes that have been committed. Myrtle dear, I’ll miss our breakfast mornings while I’m away, but think of all the great adventures and stories I’ll bring back with me.
It’s signed G.”

Rosie brought the letter out to her mother. “I think it’s time we go back and talk to Charlie Staggs.”

Libby read it aloud to Owen. There was no questioning Owen’s response. “I’m coming with you. Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Rosie wondered if she should quietly go talk to Charlie alone, rather than bring a cavalry, when the man might not know more than he already spoke of.  The idea of four of them charging in there seemed a tad overkill.

“Why don’t I-”

“No,” Libby said. “We’re doing it together. Come on, Owen.”

Myrtle chimed in. “Oh, I’m not missing this for anything in the world.”

Rosie sighed. So four of them it was.

Rosie, Libby, Owen, and Myrtle closed up shop and headed to pay Charlie a visit.

On arriving, they were greeted by Nancy who was sitting in Charlie’s office. “Wow, quite a crowd,” she chirped.

Libby spoke first. “We were given new information, and were pointed in your general direction. We’re hoping you can shed light on a few dark corners.”

Charlie’s shoulders stiffened up on seeing Owen Masters. It was well known that he was a retired officer of the law. Guarded, Charlie forced his voice to remain calm, but leaned forward to offer him a solid handshake. “Owen, how have you been? It’s nice to see you.”

“We have a few questions, Charlie. Off record of course…I’m no longer active on the force. Your name came up in a ‘conversation’ about the recent events that have everyone on edge. Why would your name be linked to that? Odd, right? You’re not the kind of man to be involved with criminal matters. Not a lawbreaker as long as I’ve known you, so imagine my surprise to hear your name mentioned when this discussion about the murders took place.” He didn’t need to know it was a letter, and nobody was volunteering any information.

“Myrtle? What are you doing here? Oh, don’t tell me, passing the gossip along? I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I wish you’d keep my name out of this.”

Rosie stepped forward. “How do you know Matt Adams?”

Charlie coughed and stuttered on hearing the man’s name. “I, I don’t…who is…who’s that?”

Libby groaned. “Oh, I know you can lie better than that.”

Nancy chimed in. “I don’t know exactly what you’re saying here, but I think we’ve heard just about enough. If you have questions, I don’t really care. Until an actual non-retired and official person is asking…”

Charlie put his hand up to stop his sister. “Fine, I know the man. We were talking business. What does that have to do with anything?”

Owen stepped closer to Charlie, getting in his personal space and lowered his voice by an octave. He may have tweaked the facts and wording a bit, but what Charlie didn’t know, didn’t hurt him. “Because he got just as cagey as you when your name was mentioned. Is there anything you want to say before I get Sheriff Snyder over here? He’s chomping at the bit to get a big arrest under his belt, and I’ve got a feeling you know more than you’re admitting. Holding back evidence is a punishable crime. Interference, accessory, would you like me to go on?”

Nancy jumped up. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Charlie, make it stop. I can’t do this. Not anymore.”

Charlie dropped his head onto his desk. He whispered, newly broken. “Fine. I’ll tell you what happened.”

Nancy started to cry and sat back down. She fidgeted with the edge of her dress, afraid to look anybody in the eye.

“It was me. I hired Matt Adams to take out Peyton. Christopher was an accident. He got the wrong guy by mistake, don’t ask me how. So he laid low for a day, and took out Peyton the following day.” Charlie’s body shook when the reality of the words struck him. “I hired a hit man. What did I do?”

Nancy took over where her brother stopped. “I think it was on getting the cancer diagnosis. Charlie cracked. He was doing it for me, trying to stop my past from haunting me. I couldn’t let go. I’ve had so much anger. Peyton – well, he hasn’t made it easy for me. The tipping point was when Charlie caught Peyton with Christopher’s wife. He was cheating on me, but with only Charlie’s word to go by, it wasn’t enough to take him out in the divorce. He kept chipping away at me, and I couldn’t take anymore. And then, after I was told I had a rare form of cancer, I broke down. Charlie said he’d take care of things, make my stress go away so I could focus on healing. I don’t know…I nodded, not caring what he had in mind. He always took care of me, of anything that came up, and I let him.”

Rosie, Libby, Owen, and Myrtle stood with their jaws hanging open. Shock painted their faces. Did they just confess to hiring a hitman? Was that hit man really Matt Adams? Oh, this was big. Even Myrtle was speechless.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Everybody glanced around, looking at one another, but not saying a word. What now? It wasn’t an official statement. They’d confessed to hiring somebody to do the job, and that somebody did the job. Wow. Just wow.

Owen walked outside. Libby followed him. Myrtle didn’t know what to do. She wanted to speak, to scold, to gossip, to utter words, but still she was speechless. She followed the others outside.

“What are you going to do?” Charlie asked, looking directly at Rosie.

“I don’t know. I’m not sworn to uphold the law, but people are dead. I understand that you thought you were righting a wrong, but Charlie, Matt killed two people at your request. I don’t even want to know how much you offered him. I’m overwhelmed with the information. I just…I’m not going to say anything, not right now. Maybe later I will. I need to think about it all. How could you…? Never mind. I need to get some fresh air and process this stuff.”

“Rosie, if you could find it in your heart…you’ve known me a long time…this isn’t the man that I am. I lost it, made a rash decision, and then it was too late.”

“Charlie, Nancy, two men are dead at your request. What do you want us to do with that? Pretend like it never happened?”

Nancy stood and looked Rosie dead in the eye. “Yes, that’s exactly what we’re asking. Pretend like you never heard this. Let us live our lives, go back to where we were. We’re good people, Rosemary. You know that. You know us. You’ve known us most of your life. Please…”

Rosie dropped her head. “I’m sorry to hear of your diagnosis, Nancy, but what your brother did…”

It seemed people were having trouble finishing sentences. It was all surreal.