Death by Chocolate Sundae: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 2) (6 page)

“Whatever, he’s here now so what better time than to see what he has to say for himself.”

Paige was bound and determined to follow this through.

“Tara, go get your laptop,” Paige said to me, then she turned to Mr. Brooks. “Mr. Brooks have a seat.”

“What is going on here…I demand to know,” he insisted.

“Mr. Brooks, we have you on surveillance tape the night of the murder of Mr. Jenkins standing right outside this window,” Paige announced to Mr. Brooks who know looked stricken. He sat down at the nearest table.

I brought out my laptop from the back and handed it to Paige who set it down on the table in front of the lawyer.

“You don’t have to show it to me,” Mr. Brooks replied looking at the floor. “I’m sure I know what’s on it.”

“You looking through the window at us trying to save Mr. Jenkins,” Stormi affirmed.

“Well yes, I think you were trying to save him. I wasn’t all that sure since you all seemed to be in hysterics,” he added.

“Now we weren’t that bad. We were just nervous and it came out wrong….” Stormi said her voice trailing.

“That’s besides the point Mr. Brooks,” Paige interjected. “What were you doing staring in at us? Why didn’t you help?”

“By the time I looked in I could hear the sirens approaching,” he explained. “I don’t know CPR and didn’t feel like I’d be of much use. So I stayed out of the way.”

I looked at Paige and Stormi. It seemed plausible.

“What were you doing in town so late?” I asked as I sat down across from him. Stormi and Paige remained standing on either side of me.

“Well I suppose it doesn’t matter now since my client is dead, “Mr. Brooks sighed. “I came to town to talk to Mr. Jenkins concerning the lawsuit against the Parker’s.”

“So you had access to his pill bottle!” Stormi announced accusingly.

“I’m sure I did,” Mr. Brooks agreed. “However, I did not poison the man. On the contrary, I was trying to help him.”

“What do you mean?” Paige asked as she pulled out the chair beside me and sat down.

“I wasn’t happy with the lawsuit he’d brought against the Parker’s. It was a minor accident and I felt the two parties could work it out. The Landry Department store case was different. Mr. Jenkins did suffer from that event and Landry needed to make things right. Since they were a huge department store located in 30 states, I knew they would have no difficulty with a hefty settlement.”

At this point Stormi sat down as well. Mr. Brooks continued.

“Once I had time to look over the lawsuit against the Parker’s, I honestly didn’t feel right pursuing it. So I came down to see Mr. Jenkins to talk him out of it. After some persuading, I convinced him to drop the case. He was to meet me at my office the next day to sign papers dropping the lawsuit. But before I left, he told me there was something else he wanted me to do.”

The three of us sat on the edge of our seats. We must have looked like ravenous dogs waiting for the next hotdog morsel to drop.

“He wanted to change his will. His son was the sole beneficiary and it seems they had a blow up and Mr. Jenkins wanted to remove him. I told him that maybe he should take a few days to think it over. Sometimes a cooler head can change one’s perspective, but he was adamant and wanted me to have the necessary paper work ready the next day.”

“When we parted, Mr. Jenkins said he was heading to the ice cream Shoppe in town to satisfy a craving. We said our goodbyes while I took a phone call. As I was driving through town I saw his car and decided to stop myself and grab a shake for the long drive back to Atlanta.”

“When I walked up to the store window and saw what was going on…well, I think I was in shock,” Mr. Brooks admitted. “I’m very ashamed you ladies saw me on the tape staring in through the window like a lump of coal.”

“It did seem strange,” Stormi said shifting in her chair. “We thought maybe you were making sure the old guy bought it…so to speak.”

“Oh no,” Mr. Brooks assured us. “I would have no reason to hurt Mr. Jenkins. He was one of my best clients.”

“We’re back to square one,” Paige said leaning back in her chair.

“I take it you ladies are amateur sleuths attempting to solve the crime?” Mr. Brooks asked.

“In a way, yes,” I admitted. “As you can tell we’re not very good at it.”

“On the contrary, I think you’re very good. I would have been just as suspect as you all were at seeing my image on your video tape.” He looked around the room. “Where are the cameras?”

“Hidden behind the walls,” I answered. “I’d even forgot they were there.”

At that moment the front door of the Shoppe opened and we three jumped. Trixie stuck her head in.

“Girls, are you closed? I was hoping for a fudge ripple cone!”

“No Trix,” I said getting out of my chair. “We were having a meeting but it’s over now.”

Paige stood up and turned the sign in the window back to open.

“I’ll get Mr. Brooks’ smoothie…that is if you still want it?” I asked.

“Of course,” he answered. “I hear you have the best smoothies in town.”

“They do,” Trixie exclaimed. She was wearing white capris and a brown top. She always looked so chic. She was 30 years older than I was but I felt dowdy next to her.

“Girls, have you heard?” Trixie continued. “Poor Mr. Parker was taken into custody for the murder of Mr. Jenkins just a short while ago.”

“Oh no,” I moaned. “What type of evidence do they have?”

“The police aren’t divulging, but the rumor mill says they found cyanide at the store.”

“Of course they did,” Stormi barked. “He sells insecticides so there’s going to be some kind of cyanide poisoning there, I suppose. I’m telling you it’s that son of his. He got word Mr. Jenkins was tossing his hinny out of the will so he had to get to him first.”

“How do you know he was taking his son out of the will,” Trixie asked as she licked the fudge ripple melting down her cone.

“Oh well, I,” Stormi stammered. “Like you, I heard it through the rumor mill.”

Trixie nodded not quite believing her but letting it go all the same.

“Alright, I’m off girls. Have a great day,” Trixie said as she walked out the door. I had a feeling she was in a hurry to spread the latest gossip.

I handed Mr. Brooks his blueberry smoothie. “So do you have the tape here?” He asked.

Before anyone could answer I blurted out, “No…I thought I did, but actually I don’t.”

The girls gave me puzzled looks.

“That’s too bad,” Mr. Brooks said as he pulled a straw from its paper wrapper. “I wouldn’t have minded seeing how silly I looked.”

“You didn’t look too bad,” Stormi offered. “Kind of like a statue.”

“I see…well I shouldn’t take up anymore of your time. I’m still interested in the office next door so we may become neighbors in the near future,” Mr. Brooks said as he walked out of my Shoppe.

“Okay, what gives?” Paige asked. “Why didn’t you want him to know the tape was here?”

“Simply because he seemed too interested in it,” I explained. “I think we need to take another look at that tape.”

“Okay, after we close let’s take another peek,” Paige agreed. “Why don’t we invite Teresa Parker over to look at it too? It might give her hope about her husband.”

“That’s fine by me,” I said. I felt sure there was something on that tape we missed. “We might need Colton as well.”

“Okay,” Paige said. “I’ll make some calls and get everyone here by closing tonight.”

*****

By 9pm, everyone, except Sam, was assembled at the store, including Teresa Parker who looked rattled. Her normally combed hair appeared tousled and she seemed out of it. Who could blame her? Her husband had been accused and arrested for murder. It had to be upsetting. Colton set up the laptop on one of the Shoppe’s tables and we gathered around. I had Teresa sit down next to Colton.

We explained to her that I remembered having surveillance cameras in the Shoppe and that the images from the tape showed Mr. Brooks peering in the store shop window.

“That’s strange isn’t it?” Teresa asked as she fidgeted in her chair.

“That’s what we thought,” Stormi answered. “And then he came by the Shoppe today.”

“He did?” Teresa sat looking at the blank computer screen.

“Yes, kind of scared us, but he said he was thinking of renting out the space next door,” Stormi continued.

“Is that right.” Teresa seemed a million miles away. She sat slumped in the chair. Maybe she was on anxiety medicine and it was making her loopy headed? We weren’t sure what was going on.

Colton loaded the video and we watched transfixed to the screen. He fast-forwarded the video until it showed Mr. Brooks staring in the front window. This time, instead of just clearing the image of Mr. Brooks’ face, Colton attempted to make the entire frame clearer. It took some time, but we all watched in silence.

Suddenly Paige exclaimed, “What’s that he’s holding in his hand?”

Sure enough, Mr. Brooks was holding something. Colton sectioned off that part of the image and zeroed in on it. With each click, the image of Mr. Brooks’ hand became clearer and clearer until we all saw it.

A pill bottle.

How could we have missed it before? Likely because we were more interested in determining whom the person was and never noticed he was holding something in his hand.

“Oh lawdy…we got the smoking gun,” Stormi muttered.

At that moment, the door chimed and for the second time today we girls jumped, except for Teresa who remained staring at the monitor. To our relief it was Sam walking through the door.

“Sorry I’m late,” she replied as she walked over to her Mother’s side.

“Honey, I don’t believe you’ve met Mrs. Parker,” Paige said as she introduced her daughter. Teresa continued to stare at the laptop screen.

“Nice to meet you,” Sam said. Teresa paid no attention to her.

We all looked at one another wondering what was wrong with her. I knew she’d been through a lot the last few days, but she was starting to freak us out.

“Teresa…are you okay?” I asked.

“What a minute,” Sam interjected. “I saw you…the night of the murder. I saw you standing in the shadows watching what was going on inside the store.”

Finally, Teresa turned her head slowly to stare at Sam. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was at home with my husband.”

“I’m sure it was you,” Sam countered. “We almost bumped into one another. You were leaving and I was just getting here. I asked if you knew what was going on and you said no and left in a hurry.”

Now we were all confused. First, we discover Mr. Brooks holding a pill bottle and now Mrs. Parker was also at the scene of the crime? What was going on?

“Teresa,” Paige began, “Were you here that night?”

Teresa looked at Paige and then to the rest of us.

“Yes I was,” she finally mumbled. “I received an anonymous phone call close to 9pm. The caller told me to come down to The Frozen Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe immediately if I wanted to end this lawsuit against my husband and me. But the caller also told me not to tell my husband. We were in such a sad state that I was desperate to do anything, even lie to my husband as I left the house that night. By the time I arrived, I noticed Mr. Jenkins’ car parked in front of the Shoppe. I didn’t want to go in so I sat in my vehicle across the way and waited. Suddenly I saw movement within the Shoppe and I got out of my car to get a better look.”