Weddings are Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries Book 7) Read online

  “Who’s that?” Jessie asked, unable to help herself.

  “Exactly my point,” Chief Daly said triumphantly. “He’s a country singer from Rockfield. He was practically mobbed when he arrived in Springdale some years back to view a table Ron had imported from France. And he was disguised at the time!”

  Freddie pursed his lips. “I was simply trying to provide an example. Not all of our VIP guests attract the sort of attention as a foreign dignitary.”

  “No? Well, you were the one who mentioned foreign dignitaries.”

  Jessie sucked in a breath and stare at the bookcase that took up the entire wall behind Freddie. The temperature in the room seemed to have plummeted in the past few moments and she didn’t know where to look.

  “Yes well,” Freddie said.

  “So that’s it? You’ve got no tapes?”

  Freddie shrugged. “Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. Don’t think I’m happy about it either. After all, you can’t think I’m a fool. I know why you’re here.”

  “I’m here to figure out who committed this crime.”

  Freddie smiled bitterly. “Of course you are. And I bet you think you have all the answers too.”

  13

  “Wow,” Bee said when the whole sorry tale had been recounted for her. “That doesn’t sound at all like Freddie. I suppose the poor dear man is in shock.”

  “He didn’t seem too shocked to me,” Chief Daly muttered. “Though that sentiment must not go further than this room.”

  Jessie and Mel both nodded.

  “So that leaves you without a venue,” Jessie finally ventured when it became clear that nobody else was going to raise the subject.

  “Don’t even think about it, Jessie. I need you working with me on this, not wandering around with flowers in your hair as you buy wedding trinkets.”

  “Don’t make it sound so pathetic, Charles,” Bee scolded.

  “But I don’t know the least thing about arson!”

  “You know a lot about insurance. Fraud especially.”

  “Yes, but…” Jessie trailed off. Sure she had investigated a lot of suspected frauds in her time, but this was different. For one thing, those cases had involved anonymous names on printed reports. She couldn’t have been more objective about the outcome of her investigations. This case, on the other hand, involved a friend.

  And a murder! That was the thing that gave Jessie pause. She had never investigated a case of insurance fraud where an innocent victim had found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though, it was true that she’d now been involved in solving several murder cases…

  “Jessie!”

  She looked up, startled out of her musings. “Yes? Sorry, I was trying to…”

  “Talk yourself out of being involved in the case? I don’t think so. I need you on this.”

  Jessie sighed. Over the past year or so, Chief Daly had become almost like a second father to her. Not that he was anything like her father, whom she hadn’t seen for years. She shook her head, realizing she was getting into another loop of distractions. She needed to focus on the investigation: everything else could wait.

  “I know, but what if it’s more sinister than we think? If we go off in the direction of insurance fraud and it’s not, then all your police resources will be working on other cases when the dirt really hits. It could be dangerous. I still think we should look at other possible suspects and motives. You know, like you originally wanted us to.”

  “Like what?” Mel said, shaking her head and laughing. “Your imagination is running wild. It’s obviously Freddie. Remind me never to watch anything with you that doesn’t involve unicorns and candy canes and—”

  Jessie punched her cousin in the arm.

  “Ouch! What was that for? Chief, arrest her for assault!”

  “Come on you two. You’re professional women in your late thirties. Do I really need to—?”

  “Oh come on,” Mel grumbled. “You’re going to play the late thirties card? Jess and I have been play-fighting since we were able to walk. She’s like my sister. No, even closer than a sister. But because we’re in our thirties, we should change that and start caring about stuff like gardening and drapes…”

  “And obsess about our ticking biological clocks,” Jessie finished. “Excuse me. I have to go practice for when I’m forty. People will expect me to wander around muttering under my breath and throwing cats at them.”

  “Well,” Bee said, rubbing her hands together triumphantly. “I have to say, as crazy as you two are, you’re entirely predictable.”

  “Bah,” Mel muttered. “You know she gets us every time.”

  “She does. And she always has! She’s been pulling this trick on us since I was in my early twenties. Of course, back then I was under the misguided belief that I was old so that was what allowed her to—”

  “Enough! I didn’t shut you two up so you could go off on another tangent. I’m sorry to say it Jessie, but nobody cares about your philosophy of life. It’s lucky for you that you’ve got good investigative skills.”

  Chief Daly shifted from the statue-like pose he had adopted as the two cousins bickered playfully. “I think you’re right. We’ll investigate the fraud angle, but we’ll pursue our other theories in secret. That will work to our advantage if our other suspects believe Freddie’s the only one on our radar. Now, remind me again who we’ve got?”

  Jessie nodded. She jumped up and went to get her purse, before realizing she remembered the names on the list. She sat back down.

  “Zelda, Mysty, Darlene. Freddie.”

  “Hmph,” Chief Daly muttered. “And you and Mike were both there. Would you say you’d have noticed if somebody who wasn’t directly involved with the venue was lurking around?”

  Jessie nodded. “I think so. But I can only remember that guy.” She shivered. “You know, the victim. Apart from that, the only people I remember seeing were the staff from Lindemann’s.”

  “Yes, that checks out with what the other witnesses reported. There is the timer aspect. Because of that development, our suspect wasn’t necessarily there at the time the fire started. They may have hung around to make sure it happened according to plan.”

  “But we’d have seen them.”

  “Not necessarily. They might have hidden in the garden area and made their way out on foot. Maybe they even had an accomplice. My team is scouring the surrounding area for any trace of somebody surveilling the building.”

  “But how could they have gotten away? It’s a long walk back to town, especially in the dark.”

  “They would have needed an accomplice.”

  Jessie bit her lip. “What about the staff? Maybe one of them had a grudge.”

  “Maybe, but I doubt it. Freddie is almost universally loved around this town, and that’s especially true among his staff.”

  “Oh,” Jessie said, remembering. “The college students I recruited to help had arrived by the time the fire started. One of them might have seen something.”

  “I’m afraid not. It seems most of them were too busy looking at their phones. Though I shouldn’t speak so harshly about the poor kids. Most of them were deeply shocked by what they saw. They were far enough away to see it all play out without being hurt in any way.”

  Chief Daly’s phone beeped once and he pulled it from his pocket like lightning. It was obvious from his face that he was satisfied by whatever he’d just read. Jessie and the others waited patiently as he pored over the little screen.

  “They’ve identified the victim.”

  Jessie nodded. It didn’t seem highly relevant here as they’d all thought of the man as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It didn’t matter that he’d seemed to antagonize Freddie: there was no way the arsonist could have forced the man into the building and then set it alight.

  “Don’t you want to see?”

  Jessie shrugged. “I guess so. It’d be good to put a face to a name and I suppose it might jog something in my memory.”

  Chief Daly passed her the phone and she took it, glancing carelessly at the screen. She had no desire to look at the mean-looking man she had seen on Friday night. She glanced down, telling herself it was only for a moment.

  It was only when she looked back up that her brain connections worked and told her that something was up with the picture she’d seen. Jessie gasped and she pulled back her arm instead of handing the phone on to Mel like she’d been about to.

  “Jessie, what is it?”

  She stared at the picture, not wanting to cause drama before she was absolutely sure. But there could be no doubt. The guy in the picture was a young man in his late twenties or early thirties. Freddie had called the older bald guy Joe, whereas this guy’s license said Vincent. She supposed that people often went under assumed names, but still.

  She was about to reply when a little voice in her head told her she was being dramatic. She sighed and looked at the picture again. “Is this an old photo? This guy looks a lot younger than the man I saw on Friday.”

  Chief Daly grabbed the phone and tapped at the screen. A moment later, he grunted and shook his head. “No. It’s only six months old. Our victim recently moved to Glenvale.”

  Jessie shook her head, trying and failing to understand what this meant. She shook herself out of it when Bee grabbed her hands and looked at her in concern.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just struggling to get this straight in my head. Are you sure this is the victim? Because he looks nothing like the man I saw on Friday.”

  “One hundred percent,” Chief Daly said gravely. “Tony pressured the dental lab to rush the analysis. The dental records are a match to the deceased. This is definitely our victim.”

  Jessie shook her head, still unable to process it. “So who was that guy who was hanging around Lindemann’s on Friday? It was obvious that he and Freddie didn’t get along.”

  14

  “So,” Jessie said, trying to feign calm confidence as she stood awkwardly on Zelda’s front porch.

  They had met first thing on Monday morning and decided that Jessie and Mel would visit some of the people Bee had argued with. The chief had gone to the station to formally interview Freddie and find out the identity of the mystery man.

  “Yes,” Zelda snapped. “What is it?”

  Jessie didn’t know the makeup artist well, but she’d heard whispered stories about Zelda’s feisty nature. Jessie had only met her a handful of times: she always seemed to be traveling for her job, which often included TV work.

  “I wanted to come by and talk to you. I heard my aunt was a little difficult in the lead up to her wedding. I wanted to apologize.”

  They had both agreed that this was the best way to get their suspects talking. Doing so gave Jessie an excuse for turning up at their houses and allowed her to see their first reactions to the mention of Bee’s name.

  Jessie smiled at Zelda now, trying not to be so obvious about her scrutiny.

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. So…” Jessie sighed. Aunt Bee had given her permission to say whatever it was she needed to say to get a confession, but she still didn’t feel right badmouthing her aunt to a stranger.

  Suck it up, Jessie, she told herself. Isn’t it worth it if it helps solve the case?

  “I’m sorry,” Jessie said, shaking her head ruefully. “She’s been like a tyrant these past few weeks. I’ve been struggling to deal with her myself.”

  Jessie stared at the other woman, trying her hardest to decipher what she was thinking. They had gone into this knowing their plan was crude and amateur, but it was the quickest way to filter the other suspects so Chief Daly could focus on the main suspect.

  Zelda just stared at her.

  Jessie shuffled from foot-to-foot, wondering how she might prolong the conversation.

  “I know, right?” Mel said from behind her. “You know, she actually had the cheek to ask me to lose weight to fit into my bridesmaid dress?”

  Zelda became animated for the first time and Jessie could have kissed her cousin. She’d never have been able to make up something so convincing on the spot like that.

  “Oh wow,” Zelda said. “I thought I was bad getting called at two in the morning and asked for my thoughts about whether lilac lip color was too crazy for a woman in her sixties. Honestly! I mean, I’m all for being client-focused but do I not have the right to a good night’s sleep? It’s vital for my business. Nobody’s going to hire me to do their makeup if I look tired and haggard. This.” She paused and gestured to her face. “Is my main form of advertising my business.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mel said, shaking her head. “You’re not the only one who gets called in the middle of the night.”

  “No,” Jessie agreed. “You’re certainly not.”

  Zelda sighed and shook her head. “Ah, I complain about your aunt, but it was really just a gut reaction to being disturbed. I usually put my phone on silent when I go to bed, but that night I was half-expecting a call from the producer of a TV show I’ve been working on.”

  “Sounds glamorous.”

  Zelda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it sounds glamorous, but believe me it wasn’t. It was one of those ‘survive in the wild’ type shows.”

  “Really? Those guys wear makeup?”

  “Oh sure! On this particular show at least. Maybe it’s different when they go and shoot in tropical islands, but you can understand the need for makeup when we were shooting in the far north of Canada. That place was freezing: you wouldn’t believe how difficult it was to make the contestants’ faces anything but blue!”

  “Wow!”

  “I know, right? I just got back Saturday and I’m still thawing out.” She winced. “Don’t get me wrong: I was never going to bail on your aunt’s wedding. I’d already spoken to her about calling in a replacement and she was fine with that. As it happened, I would have made it just in time.”

  “When did you get back?”

  Zelda smiled again and glanced at her watch. “Oh, about eight on Saturday morning? It would have been a crazy dash but I’d have made it. The only reason I didn’t hurry straight back to Springdale was your aunt left me a message to say the wedding had been canceled. I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but I’m glad the cause wasn’t anything that happened between Chief Daly and your aunt. They’re such a sweet couple.”

  Jessie glanced back at Mel and a look passed between them.

  “So you literally arrived back on the morning of the wedding.”

  Zelda nodded. “Yup. Thankfully the production team is based in Rockfield so we got to fly back there in a private plane. It sure beats some of the crazy connecting flights I’ve taken down through the years.”

  That was all Jessie needed to hear. She’d see if the chief could get the flight records from Rockfield airstrip, but something told her that they would back up everything Zelda had said. She still didn’t know the woman—not well—but there was something immensely likable about her.

  “In that case, we’d better let you get back to unpacking and relaxing.”

  “You sure you don’t want to come in for a coffee? I am just dying to share some of the stories I heard on that set. I usually have to sign a non-disclosure agreement for TV work, but I didn’t have to do that this time. Wait until you hear what Kade Clinton got up to when the cameras weren’t rolling.”

  Jessie’s jaw almost hit the floor. “Kade Clinton’s the host?” She didn’t watch a lot of TV, but when she did her guilty pleasure was reality TV shows. Kade Clinton presented a whole bunch of her favorites.

  Zelda nodded. “I know, right? I didn’t realize until we got to Canada. Though he’s nothing like what he seems on TV. The man’s a total jerk.”

  Jessie was about to take Zelda up on her offer when Mel poked her in the back. “Sorry, Zelda. That sounds awesome but we’ve got someplace to be. Can we raincheck? I just wanted to come by and apologize on behalf of my crazy aunt.”

  “Not a problem,” Zelda said with a wide grin. “Honestly. After some of the divas I’ve been spending time with? Your aunt is a saint.”

  “She’s so sweet,” Jessie whispered as they walked away. “I’ve got to say, that was a stroke of genius on your part!”

  Mel smiled enigmatically.

  “How did you even make up that bridesmaid dress story so quickly? I was stumped. It seemed as if she’d closed up and was determined not to speak to me. And then you came out with that crazy story and she completely opened up to us.”

  Mel grinned. “Who said I made it up?”

  Jessie’s jaw dropped and it stayed that way for much of the short journey back to Springdale.

  15

  Mysty was on the defensive from the moment she opened the door.

  “Jessie.”

  Jessie nodded. “Mysty.”

  Jessie knew the reason for her friend’s hostility: it wasn’t that long ago that Mysty was a suspect in another murder in town. But she didn’t expect this level of animosity.

  “Really, Jessie?” Mysty folded her arms and made no move to invite them into her home.

  Jessie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, giving herself a pep talk as she did so. For somebody who hated confrontation, she had been forced into a lot of situations she didn’t particularly like.

  “I just wanted to chat to you about my aunt’s behavior.”

  Mysty seemed to grow even more frosty. “Sure. Yup. We’ve been friends for how long? Why can’t you just level with me?”

  By now Jessie’s heart was thumping in her chest and she was beginning to ask herself why on earth she’d thrown herself head first into yet another investigation.

  “Okay. Look, you know what happened at Lindemann’s.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Mysty wasn’t going to make this easy for her, Jessie realized.

  “And the timing of it points to it being somebody with a grudge against my aunt or the chief.”