Christmas Tree Catastrophe (Lily Bloom Cozy Mystery Series Book 6) (9 page)

“What are you doing here?” Lily whispered once she regained her composure and picked herself out of the snow.

Nina helped brush the snow from Lily’s backside. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve been following Crystal and I wanted to find out what she’s doing inside.” They both lunged back to the window but the room was empty. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Same thing as you I guess. I saw her looking around that bedroom, even checking underneath the bed for something. Best I could tell, she didn’t find what she was looking for.” The front door slammed and they peeked around the corner as Crystal’s silhouette moved to her car in the dimming light.

“Let’s get out of here. I’m starting to freeze.” Lily glanced at Nina behind her. “How did you get to the back of the house? I can only find my footprints.”

“I stepped in your prints. Thanks, I managed to keep my feet dry.”

Lily opened the door of Iris’s VW. “What now?” she asked Nina.

“Nothing for me. How about some snooping around tomorrow?”

Lily nodded, climbed in the car and leaned back on the seat. “Can you turn the heat up? I’m wet and cold.”

***

Tuesday morning dawned with a threat of another storm in the air. Gray clouds hovered low leaving an ominous feeling. Lily knew what she had to do but she wasn’t looking forward to it.

First things first though, as she saw Rosie looking hopefully at her. “I know. I haven’t been spending enough time with you. Don’t give me those sad puppy dog eyes, we’ll take a walk while it’s quiet around town.” Rosie woofed and wiggled from the tip of her nose to the end of her white tail.

After dressing in layers and pulling on her boots, Lily attached Rosie’s leash and headed out her back door.

“This is perfect timing,” she heard as she just about walked smack into Ryan’s big, strong chest. “I was hoping you spent the night here for a change. I’ve missed our morning walks.” He handed Lily a mug of steaming coffee, took Rosie’s leash with one hand and wrapped his other hand around Lily’s waist. “I like this.”

She sipped her coffee before looking up at Ryan. “Me too.”

Their pace matched each other perfectly as they headed up the sidewalk to the center of town, making a loop back to Lily’s house.

“Want some breakfast?” Lily asked Ryan when they got back.

He grinned. “Will it be followed by dessert?”

“I’m not revealing all my secrets,” she answered as she unzipped her coat and yanked off her boots. Rubbing her hands together as she walked to the fridge, she asked, “How about fluffy pancakes with sautéed apples?”

“You know the way to a man’s heart, Ms. Bloom.” Ryan made himself comfortable at her kitchen table. “I only have about a half hour before I need to get over to the police station. Is that enough time?”

“Yup.” Lily got busy mixing the flour, buttermilk, baking powder and eggs together while her pan heated on the stove. “How’s Tamara doing? I visited her yesterday and she seems to like her cellmate.”

“Candy? She’s quite a character. We’re trying to get a search warrant for her apartment to find her ‘little black book’ as she calls it. She says there will be a lot of unhappy men in town if that information gets out.”

Lily poured Ryan a cup of coffee and gave him two extra-large pancakes, smothered in steaming apple slices and maple syrup. “Here you go.”

Grabbing her arm so she couldn’t get back to cooking, he pulled her into his lap. “This smells delicious. I could get used to this kind of treatment.” His lips gently brushed her neck before he released her and dug into his pancake.

When more pancakes were ready, Lily sat across from Ryan to enjoy one of her favorite breakfasts. Pancakes with fruit was a wonderful combination—sweet and tangy.

Ryan mopped up all the syrup with his last piece of pancake, leaned back, balancing on two legs of his chair and said, “I hate to eat and run, but there is the problem of work to deal with. What are you doing today?”

“Oh, nothing much,” she said dropping her head to take a bite and hide her eyes from Ryan’s prying stare.

“Good. I don’t want to be worrying about you today.” He brought his plate and cup to the sink, gave her a kiss and left for work.

Lily put the last pancake on a plate and fed it to Rosie, without the apples and maple syrup. It was gone before Lily even had a chance to rinse her plate.

A knock on her back door startled Lily. It was kind of early for any visitors, she thought. Nina’s face peeked through the window and Lily motioned for her to come inside.

“You’re up bright and early,” Lily said as she poured Nina a cup of coffee, assuming she would want one.

“I was waiting for Ryan to leave. We need to make a plan to find out what Crystal was looking for.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing but I wasn’t sure where to start until Ryan accidentally gave me a lead.”

“Oh? I thought he would be more careful than that since he doesn’t like you getting involved in this stuff.”

“I don’t think he figured out that what he told me might be connected to the murder. And it might not be, but it’s worth checking into.”

Nina stepped over the plate on the floor. “Something is making my mouth water.”

“Sorry. I fed the last pancake to Rosie but this homemade bread makes delicious toast if you want some.” Lily held up a loaf in offering.

“I’ll take whatever is easy. Now, tell me what this lead might be.”

Lily popped two pieces of bread in the toaster and sat down at the table with Nina. “Tamara’s cellmate, Candy, kept a little black book with a lot of information about the men in town that she’s done business with. Ryan hasn’t been able to get a search warrant to search her apartment yet, but maybe we can visit Candy’s apartment and see if we can find it and check what information is inside.”

“Where is her apartment?” Nina asked as she spread butter and strawberry preserves on the toast.

“I don’t know, but I’m planning to visit Tamara and find out.” She smiled, excited about this new lead. “Ready to go?”

Nina finished the last bite of her toast and washed it down with the coffee as she carried the plate and mug to the sink. “Ready. I’ll drive.”

“First, I need to drop Rosie off at my mother’s house. It’s a little out of the way, do you mind?”

“No problem.”

***

Tamara was excited to see Lily and Nina. She leaned across the table to get as close as possible to Lily as she could. Leaning her chin on her hand and cupping it around her mouth, she said in a whisper, “Candy is afraid of what will happen if Ryan gets a hold of her little black book. Can you go to her apartment and get it and hide it somewhere?”

Lily nodded her head toward Nina. “How about if Nina does that?”

Tamara nodded and glanced around as if she expected someone to jump out of the walls. “Her apartment is above the garage at Billy Owen’s house. You know, next to the library?”

Lily nodded.

“There’s an outside stairway with a key hidden under the railing halfway up.”

Tamara sat back. “Be careful. I’m counting on you Lily. Everyone else seems to think I’m guilty.”

“I’ll do my best. Thanks for the info.” Lily and Nina stood up and walked to the door, waiting for the guard to let them out.

Lily kept her fingers crossed that Ryan was busy and she didn’t bump into him. She didn’t want to chance that he would put two and two together and figure out that Lily might be getting information from Tamara about Candy’s book.

The coast was clear and they high fived each other when they made it to Nina’s car unseen. “Now what?” Nina asked.

“Drop me off at Malcolm’s house. I don’t think Crystal found what she was after yesterday. You get Candy’s book and meet me back at Malcolm’s house.”

“What if Crystal goes back to search again?”

“I’ll hide or go out the back door,” Lily said with more confidence than she felt.

Malcolm’s street was deserted as Lily got out of Nina’s car. She wasn’t even sure she would be able to get into his house but she followed her footprints from the day before and tried the back door. The doorknob turned and she quietly entered into his kitchen. She remembered that his bedroom was also in the back so she headed to that room first.

Crystal had searched in all the obvious hiding places so Lily decided to look at what might be in plain sight. She turned slowly in a circle, her eyes resting on a bookshelf. Scanning the titles, she decided that Malcolm was addicted to thrillers as most of the titles were in that genre. One nondescript book spine caught her attention. She pulled out a simple dark green, almost black, journal type book. Smiling to herself, she realized that she found something that might help.

She skimmed through the pages, while sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the wall. It was filled with Malcolm’s daily routines, starting with the weather, a little about his mother and what he needed to do at work. Boring, until she got to the end. Taped on the inside back cover was a lottery ticket. Lily peeled it off, not sure what the significance was, and stuck it in her coat pocket.

That was when the front door opened and the sound of two voices arguing traveled down the hallway.

Lily slipped the book back on the shelf and hid in the closet, hoping whoever just entered the house wouldn’t search through the rooms too thoroughly.

The voices got louder as the footsteps approached Malcolm’s bedroom. Lily’s heart pounded so hard she feared the noise would give away her hiding spot as she curled her body as small as possible, crouching lower and lower, pulling clothes all around to cover herself.

“You’d better find that ticket, I’m running out of patience with your games.” Eddie’s voice, Lily thought.

“How do you know Malcolm took your lottery ticket? And if he did, it’s possible he already cashed it in.” Lily recognized Crystal’s voice responding to Eddie.

Lily fingered the lottery ticket in her pocket.
This must be what those two are searching for
.

Eddie’s voice broke the silence. “If he cashed it in, how come you’ve been spending so much time over here searching for it? Do you think I’m stupid?”

“What are you talking about? Have you been following me?”

Eddie laughed. “Someone’s footprints are in the snow. Who else could it be?”

“I bet that pain in the neck Lily Bloom did some snooping around. She always sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. I threw that brick through her shop window hoping to scare her off.”

“Listen to me, Crystal, find that lottery ticket before she does or you’ll be out on the street with nothing but the clothes on your back.”

The sound of books being moved around interrupted the arguing. The clothes surrounding Lily stifled the air, forcing her to concentrate on each shallow breath to keep from panicking.

“I found something.” Crystal said. “Malcolm is clever, using a book as a hiding spot.”

Book pages rustled. “Someone beat us here. Look at this, a corner of the ticket is still stuck inside the back cover, but the rest got ripped off.” A loud crash make Lily jump in her cramped spot. “Hey, let me go, you big goon.”

“How can I be sure you didn’t rip it out of here, Crystal? Are you trying to trick me?” Eddie’s voice had an eerie calm to it, sending a shiver up Lily’s spine even as sweat dripped down her side. “Give me the book and let’s get out of here before someone shows up.”

Receding footsteps faded until the front door slammed closed. Sucking in a big breath of air, Lily filled her lungs before releasing a slow stream as her muscles relaxed.
I need to get out of here right now
.

Slowly and silently, she cracked open the closet door and peeked out, letting the oxygen rush into her lungs. Only beautiful silence met her ears as she eased out of the closet. The mess in the room caught her attention. All the books were strewn around but the lottery ticket still hid safe and sound in her pocket.

“Are you okay?” a quiet voice asked from the doorway.

Lily spun around. “Geez, Nina. Why do you always sneak up on me like that?”

“When I got back here from Candy’s house, Eddie and Crystal were sneaking in the front door, so I waited down the street for them to leave. Did they find you?”

“Obviously, not. I hid in the closet.” Lily pulled the lottery ticket out of her pocket, smiling at Nina. “Look what I found before they came in.”

“A lottery ticket? Yeah, so what?”

“Eddie and Crystal were arguing about it. This ticket must be valuable. It’s what they were searching for. Apparently, Malcolm stole it from Eddie.”

“So he killed Malcolm to get it back?”

“Eddie’s alibi is solid, but Crystal was at the library around the time Malcolm died. Did you find Candy’s little black book?”

“I left it in the car.”

Lily pulled Nina out the back door and they ran to her car. Lily practically dove into the passenger seat. She slammed and locked the door for good measure. “Where’s the book?”

Nina reached under the seat, pulling out a small black leather book. “Here.”

Holding the smooth leather, Lily rubbed her hand on the cool surface before she flipped it open to the back of the book.

“You’re starting at the end?” Nina asked with a crease between her eyes.

“Not the end, but near the end.” Lily’s finger moved down through a list of dates and names. “This is interesting. Guess who visited Candy on a regular basis.”

“Malcolm?”

“Nope.” Lily shook her head. “Eddie.”

“So Eddie was visiting Candy and Crystal might have been having an affair with Malcolm and Malcolm stole the lottery ticket from Eddie. Who killed Malcolm?” Nina asked.

“I don’t know, but Tamara isn’t a murderer.” Lily turned more pages in Candy’s book before looking up. “Drop me off at my house. I want to examine this book before I decide how to use the information.”

Nina started to drive. “After I drop you off, I’ll visit Tamara and tell her I found the book and check if Candy gave her any other information.”

“Okay,” Lily said distractedly. “I think I might make another visit to the Rosewood to talk to Sara Moss and Bella Parker again.”

Back home, Lily stashed the book and the lottery ticket on the inside of a planter. Just in case someone got the crazy idea that she had something of interest in her house. Grabbing her keys and tote, she locked up and headed to the Rosewood, not sure what she might find, but thinking she missed something from the day before.

By the time she pulled into the parking lot, the last bit of sun peeked above the horizon. Lily entered the Rosewood as Ruth Ann turned away and whispered into the phone. Several brochures were displayed at the main desk, so Lily occupied her time looking through them while trying to eavesdrop on Ruth Ann’s conversation. From what Lily could hear, she was talking to someone she knew well but wasn’t happy with what she was hearing. Finally, Ruth Ann finished her conversation and turned around, startled to see Lily waiting. Putting her ‘what can I do for you’ smile on her face, Ruth Ann greeted Lily.

“Hello again. I brought flowers for Sara Moss yesterday and would like to visit with her again today.”

“I’ll call the person on duty to find out where she is. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Ruth Ann walked into a small office, closing the door behind her. Through the window, Lily could see Ruth Ann on the phone, waving her hand around and glancing over her shoulder at Lily.

Ruth Ann returned, with a scowl on her face. “I’m so sorry, but she’s napping at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?”

“No, it’s not important. How lucky for Sara that the Rosewood managed to find an opening for her.”

“Yes, well, I did that as a special favor for my brother. He knew Sara would be confused and lonely and he thought it was the least he could do for his partner’s mother.”

“Oh? Eddie is your brother?”

“Yes, it works out well, with our mother here too. I think you met her yesterday? Bella? You said she acted a bit confused when you talked to her?”

“Of course. Now, that you mention it, I do think you told me that your brother told you I would be bringing flowers. Could I just take a peek at the sign-in book?”

“That’s confidential, just for our records. Some of the people that live here don’t want that information made accessible to everyone.” As she talked to Lily, Ruth Ann slid the book off the counter, pushing it under a pile of papers. “I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course I do, but maybe you could double check something for me?” Ruth Ann was obviously hiding something which made Lily more curious than ever. “When did you tell me your brother visited Bella last Friday?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give that information out.” Ruth Ann glanced around the room, rubbing her neck. “I need to get back to work now.” She started to turn away.

“Wait.” Lily reached over the counter and touched her arm. “Who are you protecting? Yesterday, you weren’t so evasive when I asked you some questions.” Lily tilted her head, waiting for a reply.

Ruth Ann puckered her mouth, looking off to the side. “Eddie asked me to write his name and time in. He didn’t want his wife to find out he has a girlfriend and was with her. You aren’t friends with Crystal are you?”

“No. And of course I would never disclose something you tell me in confidence.” Lily smiled at Ruth Ann. “So, Eddie, wasn’t here on Friday at all?”

“No. I doctor the sign-in book for him when he visits his girlfriend so he can tell Crystal he was here, and if she checks, well, you know, he’s got an alibi. I hate lying and I told him I won’t do it anymore. I don’t want to get in trouble and lose my job.”

Lily patted her hand. “Good for you to stick up for yourself. It can be hard sometimes, but you’re doing the right thing.”

“You think so?” Ruth Ann smiled as if Lily’s understanding was exactly what she needed.

“Of course, and thank you, Ruth Ann. I’ll swing by another time to talk to Sara. You’ve been more help than you can imagine.”

A tingle of excitement surged through her body as she left the Rosewood. The puzzle was falling into place. Once she got to her car, she needed to call Ryan and fill him in on this latest development.

But one big problem stood in her way. Eddie Parker leaned against Lily’s minivan with an evil grin distorting his face. “I think you found something that belongs to me.”