Rock Candy and Robberies Page 2

  “Hey,” Libby, one of the newer employees, said brightly, smiling at Candice. “You're… Candy, right?”

  Candice chuckled. “Close. It's Candice. I do run a candy shop, which probably confuses matters a bit.”

  “Oh, that's right,” the other woman said. “I knew it had something to do with candy. Can I get you anything?”

  “Can I have a bowl of that black bean soup and a turkey wrap to go?” Candice asked. Suri was partial to wraps, and Candice figured it was her turn to pick something up, since her employee was the one who usually made the lunch runs.

  The young woman nodded. “Sure thing. It’s on the house, of course,” she added when she saw Candice reaching into her purse. “Your mother made it very clear that you eat here for free.”

  “I'd argue, but she gets the same deal at the candy shop, so I suppose it's even,” Candice said, grinning.

  She walked around, looking in the display cases that showed off the various meats her mother sold while she waited for her order to get completed. She wasn't here to snoop or to get in anyone's way; all she wanted to do was make sure things weren't ending up in chaos. She would also have to look over the weekly report that the manager was supposed to send in, but she wouldn't get that until the weekend.

  As she was waiting, the front door opened and a middle-aged woman came in. She hurried up to the counter, her gaze flickering over Candice, then she did a double take.

  “You’re Moira’s daughter, aren't you?” she asked.

  Candice raise an eyebrow. “I am. My name's Candice.”

  She wondered whether she should shake the woman's hand or not, but the choice was taken from her when the woman hurried forward and pulled her into a quick but tight hug.

  “Oh, your mother has told me so much about you. It's wonderful to finally meet you.”

  “I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name,” Candice said as she pulled back. She had never been a huge fan of strangers touching her without her permission, but even though this woman had raised her hackles almost right away, she was determined to be polite.

  “Oh, it's Annabelle. Annabelle Zimmer.” She waited, as if she expected Candice to tell her that her mother had told her all about her too, and seemed slightly disappointed when she didn't. “I met your mother at one of the book club meetings. I was new to town, and didn’t know anyone, but we just clicked. It's so nice to finally meet you.”

  “It's nice to meet you too,” Candice said. She tried to think of something else to say but was saved by Libby coming back out clutching a brown paper bag. She handed it off to Candice. “Here you go. Thanks for stopping in. Do you need anything else? A drink?”

  “No, I'm fine,” Candice said. “Thanks, though. I'll stop in again this weekend. It was nice to see you, Libby. And it was nice to meet you, Annabelle.”

  Candice nodded goodbye at them both and walked toward the door. Just as she opened it, Annabelle called out, “Tell your mother I'll stop by with those pastries for her sometime soon!”

  Candice nodded and was out the door before she realized that the other woman may not know that her mother was on vacation. She turned back to tell her, but a small group of people brushed past her and she was reluctant to go back into the busy deli and risk getting waylaid again. She decided to just mention it in the email she was planning on sending to her mother that night. Worst case scenario, she figured, she would end up getting some free pastries.

  Chapter 3

  It was dark by the time she got home from work. Out of long habit, she turned down the road that would lead her to her own house instead of going to her parents’ house, so she was a bit later than she had planned. The dogs greeted her with barking that could be heard even while she was in her car, and she hurried up to the porch, where she let herself in. Immediately, Maverick and Keeva ambushed her, wagging their tails and pressing their cold noses up at her.

  She paused to scratch them both behind the ears, then slipped the rest of the way through the door, shutting and locking it behind her. She saw a slightly overwhelmed looking Felix sitting on the long table in the entranceway, eyeing the dogs with concern. He got along with them both well enough when they were calm, but he was always quick to get out of their way when they were excited. She couldn’t blame him; he was tiny in comparison to them. She slipped her shoes off and put her coat away, leaving her purse on the table next to Felix. She ran her hand along his spine as she walked by. The dogs followed her into the kitchen, where Eli was sitting in front of his laptop, a nearly empty cup of coffee in front of him.

  “Hey,” he said, looking up. “I assumed it was you. The dogs would have carried on more if it was a burglar.”

  “You’re lucky that you guessed right, or else I’d be upstairs stealing all of Mom’s jewelry right now,” she said cheerfully, sitting down at the table, then nodded at the dogs. “How were they today?” She knew her mother would want a full accounting in her email that night.

  “They were good,” he said. “I left around noon to take care of some stuff and checked in on the farmhouse to make sure it was locked up. After that, I came back and spent some time working on stuff here. I’ve been emailing back and forth with the person designing my logo. I’ll have a couple of options to show you soon. I think you’re going to like them.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said.

  “Our reservations are at eight, so we should probably leave pretty soon,” he said, glancing over at the kitchen clock.

  “I’ll go get changed,” she said. “Have the dogs eaten dinner?”

  “I’ll feed them while you get changed,” he said, shutting his laptop and standing up. “Not that you need to change, of course. You look great as you are.”

  “I’ve got chocolate stains on my shirt,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “At least I probably smell okay, though. That’s the nice thing about working with candy.” She left him with a quick kiss, going upstairs and digging through her suitcase until she found a pair of black slacks and a nice blouse. The Red Cedar Grill was one of the nicest restaurants in the area. It was owned by her mother’s friend, Denise. They had decided to go out and celebrate Eli getting the loan, and she was looking forward to it. It had been a while since the two of them had had a date. She couldn’t quite count their weekly dinners with Reggie and her parents.

  She had just finished buttoning her blouse when she heard the crunch of tires on frozen gravel and saw the flash from head lights through the bedroom window. She hurried back downstairs. The dog’s had begun to bark, but Eli had managed to corral them in the mud room, which had a gate across the entrance. He came down the hall, frowning.

  “Who’s that?”

  “I have no idea,” she said.

  They approached the door together. She appreciated Eli’s comforting presence at her back as she pulled it open. They watched as the car pulled up and parked right behind her vehicle. A young man about their age got out and began walking carefully up the icy path to the front porch. He had a folder clasped in his hands, and his brow furrowed when he glanced up and saw them. He hesitated just before reaching the porch.

  “I, uh, I was supposed to drop this off with David. Lenny said this was his address?” He made the statement into a question, his voice rising at the end.

  “David is my stepfather,” Candice said, flicking on the porch light for him. “How can I help you?”

  “Can you take the folder?” he asked. “I don’t really know how all of this confidentiality stuff works. I’m new, in case you can’t tell.”

  “David told me that Lenny might drop off some old case files, so I’m guessing that means I can.”

  He still seemed a bit unsure as he extended the file toward Candice. She glanced at it just long enough to see that it was dated from almost ten years ago, then handed it off to Eli.

  “Thanks. We’re just about to head to town, but I’ll email him and let him know that you stopped by with it. I’ll put it in his office. Say hi to Lenny for me when you see him again.”<
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  “Thanks,” the young man said. “I’m Terry, by the way.”

  Candice and Eli introduced themselves, then said their quick goodbyes to him and watched as he returned to his car and pulled back down the driveway. Once he was gone, Candice took the folder to David’s office. She was tempted to look inside it, but resisted. She knew that David’s cases were confidential, and she didn’t want to break his trust.

  After depositing the file on top of David’s desk, she finished getting ready to go and she and Eli left the house together, locking the door behind them. They walked over to Eli’s car and got in. He pulled carefully out of the driveway.

  “The roads are pretty bad,” he said. “But we left early enough that we’ll make our reservation in plenty of time.”

  “Good,” she said, smiling and relaxing back into her seat. A nice, relaxing evening out with her husband was just what she needed.

  Chapter 4

  “Are your parents enjoying the cruise?”

  “I’m sure they are,” Candice replied, smiling at the tall red haired woman who was standing next to their table. “I’m supposed to send them an email tonight, but I’m not expecting to hear back from them until sometime tomorrow. She sent me some pictures of the cruise ship before they boarded, though. It looks wonderful.”

  “She sent me some pictures as well,” Denise said. “It makes me want to take a cruise.”

  “Me too,” Candice admitted. “It got me thinking about maybe going next year or the year after. It definitely seems like it would be a nice vacation. My mom seems to like them, that’s for sure.”

  “That she does,” Denise said with a smile. She looked back toward the kitchen, where a sudden clattering of falling dishes had sounded from. “It was nice talking to you, Candice, and you, Eli. Tell Logan I say hi. And tell him to get his butt over to my house for dinner sometime soon.”

  “I will,” Candice agreed with a chuckle. Logan was Denise’s nephew, and had lived with her up until a short while ago. Their relationship was complicated, but despite everything, they were still pretty close.

  “I’ll leave you to finish your meal in peace. I’m glad that you stopped by. I hope to see more of you.”

  Candice relaxed back into her seat, sipping her wine. It really had been a wonderful evening. They were just finishing up dessert – rich chocolate cake with moist mousse filling. It was delicious, and she was tempted to order another slice to take home, but she resisted. She was surrounded by tempting chocolates and candies all day; there was no need to bring the temptation into her house. Or in this case, her mother’s house.

  “To the future,” Eli said, raising his glass in a toast. She gently bumped her glass against his and they both sipped. “Well, I’m about ready to go home and collapse in bed,” Eli said after they finished the last bites of chocolate cake. “It’s not even ten yet.”

  “By the time we get home and get the dogs settled and feed Felix, it will probably be after eleven,” she said. “I know it’s still a bit early for us, but I wouldn’t mind an early night.”

  They paid the check and left the restaurant together, arm in arm. It was colder out than it had been earlier that day, and all of the snow that had been melted by the salt in the parking lot had refrozen into a thin sheet of ice. It was slow going, but they made it safely to the car. Candice pulled her coat more tightly around herself as they got into the vehicle. As soon as the car was on, she hit the button for the seat warmer.

  “Straight home?” Eli asked her.

  “Straight home,” she agreed. “My parents’ place, remember, not our house.”

  “I know, I know,” Eli said. “I’m not the one who almost went to the wrong place earlier today.”

  Feeling playful and happy, she stuck her tongue out at him, then turned to look out the window. It was hard to imagine feeling any more content than she felt in just that moment.

  Eli turned into her parents’ driveway a short while later. Candice straightened up, ready to get out of the car, and frowned as she gazed at the house. The porch light was off. It was a small thing, but it struck her as odd, because she was pretty sure she had left it on. In fact, she remembered glancing back as she walked toward the car to make sure it was on, because she hated walking through the dark to the front door.

  “Maybe the bulb went out,” she muttered to herself.

  “What?” Eli asked, glancing over at her as he steered his car next to hers and put into park.

  “I said, maybe the bulb went out. I’m pretty sure we left the porch light on.”

  He glanced up at the porch and then shrugged. “Probably. I’m sure your parents have extra bulbs if that’s the case. Are you ready to go in?”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Candice said. She realized she had been staring at the house instead of gathering up her purse. “Let’s –”

  She broke off, gasping as a dark shape dashed across the yard toward them. It looked like a coyote or a wolf, and it was heading right toward the car. Thoughts of rabies flashed through her mind and she quickly hit the button to lock the doors. Eli looked around, frowning, and she heard a small gasp from him as well when he saw the shape running towards them.

  “Is that Maverick?”

  At first his words took a moment to sink in, but when they did, she gasped for another reason. He was right; it was the German Shepherd. She recognized his silhouette now, and realized the form was wagging its tail and running toward them happily, not charging at them. She chided herself for being so silly, but immediately another worry struck her. Why was he outside? She knew for a fact that both dogs had been left securely in the house with the door locked. Had they broken through a window for some reason? It seemed insane to even think it, but she couldn’t think of another way for them to get out.

  She opened the car door and was almost bowled over by the overly excited Shepherd. He pressed his head against her stomach as she scratched her fingers into his thick neck fur.

  “You’re cold, boy,” she said. “What are you even doing outside? Where is Keeva?” She turned to look at Eli, who was watching them with concern. Sensing her gaze, he nodded at her purse. “Let’s head in,” he said. “We’d better see what the damage is.”

  They got out of the car and made their way back toward the house, Maverick following close beside them. It was eerie walking through the dark to the house with nothing but the shadows beneath the trees surrounding them, and Candice was glad for Maverick’s presence beside her. She was worried about Keeva. Maverick had been relatively easy to train to stick around. He would come back when called, and even if he somehow made it out the front door without supervision, he tended to stay close. Keeva, on the other hand, was a different story. She was an Irish wolfhound; a sight hound bred to chase prey far away from their owners. She was much more stubborn, and not very good at staying close. Candice was worried that if Keeva had gotten outside with no one around to call her back right away, she would have taken off after something or simply wandered away, and it may not be that easy to find her again.

  She reached out to Eli to steady herself as she walked up the slippery porch steps. He helped her up and followed carefully behind her. She paused at the top to make sure he didn’t need any help himself, and he shot her a look.

  “I’m not going to fall over,” he said, just a tinge of annoyance in his voice. She bit back a sigh. Back when he had first gotten his injuries, she’d had a tendency to hover, and once he had gotten on the road to recovery, he had hated that. He had hated feeling like he was crippled or somehow less able than others, and he still had a tendency to get testy if she acted like his hip or leg might be holding him back. Of course in a situation like this, he logically knew that she didn’t mean anything by it. It was something they were both working on.

  “I almost fell,” she pointed out. “It has nothing to do with –”

  She broke off as her foot caught on something and she stumbled forward, just barely catching herself on the doorframe. It took her a moment
to realize that the front door was open and that she had tripped across something large lying right in front of it.

  “What the –” she heard a bone chilling sound behind her and realized that Maverick was growling low in his throat. Her pulse ratcheted up and she felt adrenaline spike through her. Something was very, very wrong.

  Chapter 5

  A weak light suddenly flooded the area, illuminating the porch just enough for her to see what she had tripped over. The sight of it made her scream and stumble back, this time slipping on a patch of ice and falling on her rear. As she did, her foot caught a metal tin that she was sure hadn’t been there when they left, kicking it away to bounce off the side of the house. Eli reached for her, but it seemed to be an instinctive gesture. He wasn’t looking at her, and she couldn’t blame him. Both of their eyes were glued to the body that had somehow fallen across the entrance to the house. It wasn’t someone she recognized, but at that moment that was only a very fleeting relief. She could see flecks of blood on the porch and what looked like a bullet hole in the man’s back. She wondered exactly what had happened here.

  “We should call the police,” Eli said. Candice nodded silently. He helped her up and they both stepped back, away from the body. Behind him, Maverick was still growling.

  Candice just tucked her arm into his, too shocked to say anything. She didn’t seem able to take her eyes off the body. She only noticed the blue metal tin lying next to it because her foot had kicked it as she went down. She wondered, for a moment, where it had come from, but couldn’t seem to hold onto the thought. The body kept drawing her eyes back toward it.