The Full Cup of Murder: Cozy Murder Mystery (Full Cup Mysteries Book 1) (6 page)

“Well if there is anything we can do Alison all you need to do is ask.” Riley spoke up. I smiled at him. I realized the two of them were dressed up. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“They are laying Ray to rest this afternoon.”

“Oh that is right. I wish I could so be there.” I said sadly. Shanna started to fill us in on details of what was supposed to happen there today. I could see that Riley was a little uncomfortable. “I am glad you are taking her Riley. We have all known Ray since he was a young boy. It is a very sad loss to our town.”

“Ummm…yes, of course it is. Whenever we lose a young person who contributes so much to the community it is a town’s loss.” He shifted on his feet. I had never seen Riley Malanta look so uncomfortable. I looked over at Jason who was noticing too. Shanna was blind to it as she rambled on about some of the town gossip. “Shanna, we should go dear.”

“Oh. Yes, yes Riley, you are right and Alison should get some rest. I am going to come in here free of charge when they get ready to discharge you and do your hair and get you feeling good about yourself again Alison.” She hugged me.

“Thank you Shanna. “ They left and I looked at Jason. “Oh he has something to do with it. I have no doubt.”

“Yes.” Jason agreed. “I don’t think he did anything I think he hired someone. He did not seem to really understand a lot of what was being said. I need to go call Linden and Holbrook.” He stood up. “Are you going to be ok?”

“Go ahead.” Jason had been a great buffer between the FBI and I. Dr. Burns wanted me to stay completely de-stressed so Jason has been handling informing them of everything and bringing me back information as well.

Building All Over Again

Over the next few days, they removed the torso cast. I had a hard time breathing but it felt so good to get all of that pressure off of my chest.  They brought in a breathing machine for me, which helped a lot. It actually made me tired just to breathe. They brought a physical therapist in as well but I still was not moving well.

The case was somewhat stagnant. There was a shipment of heroin found on the beach two days ago. They are not sure who was even involved in it but it still caused a ruckus in town. I also had heard that Reese left town as well.  Lisa and Jim were running the Full Cup and doing so well with it. It felt so good to know my business was in good hands. My house had been cleaned thanks to Jason who brought a professional service in to clean it. I had decided to move in with Jason for a while and rent the house.

The day came when I was finally being discharged. Shanna had kept her promise and had left about an hour ago. She did get my hair looking beautiful. I nearly felt beautiful. Jason was running a few errands and getting everything ready for my arrival at his house. He wanted to call it our house but I just was not ready for that. Jenna was with me now. She had bought me this beautiful outfit that fit nice and loose on me but I liked it too. It would be awhile before I was going to fit into my jeans.

“Are you ready?” Jason came in wheeling in a wheel chair with two heart balloons tied to the handles in the shape of hearts one red and one pink. In the seat, itself was three dozen mixed red, yellow and pink sweetheart roses.

“Aww” Jenna sighed. Jason came to me and I stood up slowly.

“Thank you.” I said with tears in my eyes. How I was lucky enough to have this man come into my life at such a low point and bring me such pleasure and happiness, I did not know. We got me adjusted. Roses in my lap and Jenna pushing me. Jason grabbed the box that was filled with everything I had accumulated while in the hospital. My whole wall was nearly covered with cards from people from town. As they wheeled me out of the hospital everyone was coming up and wishing me luck. My whole body was filled with anxiety but when I looked at Jason and saw his reassuring face I knew I would be ok. We arrived at Jason’s house. Lisa and Jim where there and a few of my fill in workers. It was so sweet. It was nice to just relax with my friends. They filled me in on the happenings at work. I really missed my life the way it was. Then I looked at Jason. Would we had still been if my life was still normal?

People left and Jason wheeled me into the house and I was settled on the couch. He set the box of stuff from the hospital on the coffee table so I started to go through it while he was fixing us something to eat. I found my cell phone. It was loaded with voice mails and texts. I started scrolling through the texts until I came to one text in particular. It was from Uncle Junior telling me to get well quick and if I needed anything to call. I decided to call. It had been about fifteen years since I had even said Uncle Junior’s name let alone spoke or seen him. I did owe him a thank you for choosing to save my life but I was still having problems even wanting to do that. I dialed the phone. He answered on the fourth ring.

“Hello!”

“Hi Junior.”

“Alison. How are you?” He did sound concerned.

“I am doing well.”

“I imagine Jason is taking good care of you. Or at least helping you take care of yourself.” I know he was trying to flatter me but I could not help but feel he was trying to egg me into an argument. He was known to like to start fights and push buttons. I chose to ignore it.

“Thank you for making the choice to do the surgery.”

“Umm…you are welcome.” He sounded uncomfortable. I guess the whole conversation was in reality. “Is there anything else I can do?”

“No, Lisa and Jim have things going very well and smoothly at the Full Cup. Jason is doing so well to make sure I have everything I need including emotional support. Something I am not used to.” I could not help but dig back even if that was not what he was doing. After all, we were both from the same family although I was still not so eager to admit it.

“No.” He said gently.” I am sure you are not used to it. Hopefully things will change there with that.”

“I am not dying Junior.”

“Alison, I want to help. I know I have not been an Uncle to you or anything else and I am not going to try now, but I do care and I want to offer help.” I relented a little. “Perhaps I can come and visit sometime.” He said.

“Give me time to think about it Junior. We have a lot going on here.”

“How is the case going?”

“Honestly, I can’t talk about it. I really do not know either. Jason has been handling everything. I am sure I am going to have to deal with things eventually but right now I have to worry about healing.”

“I totally agree.” He said.

“Ok well Jason is waiting to eat so I am going to let you go for now. Thank you again Junior.”

“You are welcome Alison. If there is anything.”

“Thank you.” I hung up. Jason had come in and sat down but remained quiet so I could talk. I wanted to lean on him. It had been so long since we had touched. I was hesitant. I was not even sure if he would want to touch me. He moved closer, cupped my face, and kissed me. His kisses thrilled me still.

“Are you going to eat Ali?” He had made a nice salad. I could not eat a lot as I had to be careful with my diet. I ate with him and soon we were back to kissing again. “Do you want to sleep on the couch or do you want me to. I don’t want to disturb your sleep.” He looked at me and I did not even have to answer. Gently he lifted me off the couch and carried me to the bedroom. There were bunches of roses all over the bedroom. He had changed the color scheme to a nice light rose color but it also had burgundy as well so it had some masculinity to the room as well. He slowly and gently laid me down on the bed. I could undress myself but he slowly started helping me. I had lost so much weight and still had ugly bruises, welts, and cuts all over my torso. I tried to cover myself with my hands but everywhere I covered he gently kissed my hands away. When he had me naked, he covered me with the blankets. He stripped himself and slid under the covers with me. His hands rested on me and I could feel myself relaxing and starting to fall asleep.

Over the next few days, my private nurse came to meet me. Linden and Holbrook and now my full time FBI agent bodyguard came to brief and update me on the case. My bodyguard, Shawn Naylor was a really nice guy. My nurse, Marla Duntton was a very serious person and I knew I was in good hands with her. Jason was getting ready to go back to work so I could see he was very happy with both Marla and Shawn. When that Monday came around that Jason did have to go to work we both woke up fairly early. I was moving around a lot better so I decided to get up and make Jason a good breakfast. He came out of the bedroom and when I had seen what I had done, he was very happy but kind of gave me hell about it too. I had to smile. He left for work when Shawn showed up.

“I am mostly going to just sit in my car.” He told us.

“You don’t have to do that.

“I am here to observe what is going on. I cannot be seen but I will be around.” Marla showed up as well. She was going to be here until lunchtime. The Jason would be home and then Jenna was coming over later and Lisa too so I could go over the Full Cups books with her and get those caught up as well.

“Don’t overdo it Ali.” Jason leaned over to kiss me.

“I won’t hun I promise.”

“No she won’t” Marla smiled and reassured him. The guys left and Marla and I got myself showered and a little bit of physical therapy. I was already tired a few hours later but I wanted to get stronger but I still took Marla’s advice and laid down for about an hour. I woke and saw that Marla had come in and pulled the shades down and had covered me with a blanket. I could hear my cell buzzing on the nightstand. I reached it for it. I was pretty sure it was Jason to check in or Lisa or Jenna to let me know they were in on the way. I did not recognize the number.

“How are you feeling Ali?” It was him. The voice. I started trembling and breathing fast.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

“I just hope you took the warning.”

“Warning? You almost killed us!” I yelled into the phone. Marla came running as I hung up and set the phone back on the nightstand.

“Are you ok, Alison?”

“Yes another threatening phone call.” The FBI and Jason had filled Marla in on everything that was going on.  She came over to the bed to help me up. “Jason should be here anytime.” I walked to the window and pulled the shade up a little. I could see the FBI van down the road and I also saw Shawn’s car as well. “I think I am going to take a shower.” Marla walked me to the bathroom and helped me in. I was able to do most of it but she helped me wash my hair, as I could not lift my arms too high. After she helped me out and left me to get dressed. She was going to go out and get her stuff together so she could leave after Jason got home. I got dressed slowly. It was upsetting to be so tired just getting dressed. I heard the front door open and some talking so I knew Jason must be home. I left the bathroom and started down the hall. It was strangely quiet.

“Jason.” I called out. “Marla? Where are you guys.” I kept walking down the hallway. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind. I could feel myself being dragged back down the hall. I screamed but barely anything came out of my mouth. I was thrown onto the bedroom floor. My body hurt so bad as I was not healed from the accident yet. I looked up. There were two men standing above me. They both had black hoods on.

“What do we do now?” One of them asked.

“We are not to harm her.” The other said. He came over and picked me up off of the floor. He made me sit on the bed as the two of them tied me up and put a pillow case over my head. I felt myself being led and I could tell we had now gone outside. Why was Shawn not seeing this? Why not the agents in the van? Where was Marla and why Jason was not home by now? All kinds of questions were flying through my mind. I had hoped they had not harmed Marla. Poor girl she had no idea or understanding just how bad this was. I heard the door of a van being slid open and they pushed me in. The pain in my body was unreal but the fright in my mind was worse. It felt like we were on the road for hours. Finally, they came to a stop and I was taken out, led into a building, and sat in a chair. They left the pillowcase on but I could hear voices. I could feel someone standing near me and close.

“If I take this pillow case off of your head are you going to scream?” It was the same voice from the phone calls. I shook my head. I could feel the pillowcase coming off. It was really bright but as my eyes adjusted I was shocked to see Reese, Riley, Shanna and a few other Malanta family.

“Hello Alison.” Reese said.

“You?” I could not even believe it. I looked at Shanna and it hit me that she had been involved the entire time. Here we all were worried about her and in reality; she was just as much involved.

“Hello Ali.” Shanna sneered at me.

“But I don’t understand.”

“It is pretty easy to understand actually. You are just too stupid to understand.” Riley spoke up. “Everything would have been ok if that Ray had not interfered with my business. For years, my family has used your bar to make our deals. For years, we have been running our products into the ports and then Ray had to catch us. He had to interfere.” Riley walked very close to me. “Now you. Now we have to deal with you.”

“You did kill Ray?” I gasped.

“It truly was an accident but like anyone would believe me.” He said and he was pretty much right because I was not even sure if I believed it. “That night he came into the Full Cup he told me he was going to report my whole entire operation. He was pretty upset that I had used your place. I think he was upset with that more than anything.”

“Oh please!” Shanna spoke up. “Everyone just loves Ali.” She glared at me. “They always have!” I knew Shanna was a little jealous of our childhood. When she, Jenna, myself and a few other girls hung out the boys very rarely spoke to Shanna.  Jenna and I had to practically beg our cheering coach to allow Shanna on the squad. Shanna seemed to be over looked on everything. When we all grew up and she had opened up the beauty shop she had gained a little bit of popularity. She was very good at doing hair and had gained some of our richest resident women respect. People had started looking up to Shanna as a great stylist and a good businesswoman. We all were a little Leary when she first started dating Riley but we were also happy to see her happy. I guess we were all right with our first instincts.