Crunchy Christmas Murder: Killer Cookie Cozy Mysteries, Book 4 Read online

  “Oh. Of course,” she said, trying not to feel too disappointed. “I’ll look for it tomorrow.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled. “I should get going now. I think Val and Margie might murder me if I make them wait any longer to come over here.”

  They both glanced over to Margie’s house, where the silhouettes of the two women could be seen watching them eagerly from the window. Lilah laughed. She might have been embarrassed if he was a stranger, but Reid knew them both well enough to require no explanation.

  “Good night, Lilah,” he said.

  “Good night, Reid.”

  For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, but then he just smiled and walked away. She gazed after him, feeling confused to her core, until he drove around the corner and out of sight.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  * * *

  Lilah worked the morning shift at the diner the next day. Waking up at six thirty to go to work wasn’t fun, especially when she had stayed up nearly to midnight the night before. Still, she felt pretty good once she had a couple of cups of coffee in her. She made sure to down another cup before leaving the diner at noon, and hoped that the jitters from the caffeine would fade by the time she got to the cookie shop. Having double the responsibility was already starting to take its toll on her, and the cookie shop wasn’t even open yet.

  She met up with Val at her house before heading to the shop. Her friend had volunteered to help her touch up the trim in the kitchen and do a few other small tasks. In return, Lilah was going to treat them to lunch at the little deli on the corner. The soups and sandwiches they served were much healthier than what they offered at the diner, and Lilah could only eat so much fried food before she started to crave something more wholesome.

  “It’s a nice day,” her friend said as they drove along the main road into town. “You know, that’s one of the things I like best about Alabama. I lived in Michigan for a year after college, and the winters there are ten times worse than this. You’d never get away with just wearing a light jacket in mid-December up there.”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to complain about the climate down here,” Lilah said. “I forget how lucky we are sometimes. Both of us are doing pretty well, aren’t we? I mean, we aren’t rich by any means, but we’re happy and we’re doing what we want to be doing.”

  “That’s what counts,” her friend said. “I’ve never understood why some people focus so much on making money that they forget to be happy. What’s the point of all of that if you’re miserable at the end of the day?”

  “I don’t know.” Lilah looked over at her old college roommate and smiled. “Thanks. You’re making me feel better. Just this morning I was worrying about what I was going to do if the cookie shop doesn’t bring in as much money as I hoped. It’s important that I don’t forget why I’m doing all of this; because I enjoy it.”

  “That’s the spirit. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, though,” Val said.

  True to her word, the first thing Lilah did when they got to the cookie shop was to look for Reid’s jacket. Since she didn’t remember seeing it over the weekend, she didn’t expect to find it, so was surprised when Val discovered it behind the counter in the front room.

  “It must have fallen to the floor at some point,” she said. “He’s lucky it didn’t get any paint on it.”

  “I’ll call him and let him know,” Lilah said.

  She set the jacket on the counter in the kitchen next to her purse and dialed Reid’s number.

  “Great, I’m glad it’s there,” he said when she told him about the jacket. “I can come and pick it up now if you’d like.”

  Val, who had followed her into the kitchen, mouthed something. Lilah covered the phone with her hand.

  “What?” she whispered.

  “Tell him we’ll drop it off. There’s a new coffee shop not far from his house that I’ve been meaning to check out. We might as well kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Val and I can drop it off,” Lilah said to Reid. “It’ll be about an hour; I want to finish touching up the trim at the cookie shop first so it can dry while we’re out. I’ll text you when we’re on our way.”

  She had never been to Reid’s house before, but Val knew the way. He lived in a nice neighborhood a few miles outside of town. The houses had large yards and were spread out. She slowed down as she followed her friend’s increasingly unsure directions, feeling very conscious of how loud her little car was.

  “It’s that one,” Val said at last. Seeing her friend’s look, she added, “I’m sure… I think.”

  “I thought you’d been here before,” Lilah said.

  “Only once. He needed someone to stop in and feed his fish while he was gone for the weekend, and I guess his sister was out of town. It was a year ago, my memory isn’t that good. I know he lives near Lydia, that’s how I got us this far.”

  “Lydia?” Lilah asked. “As in Lydia Lopez, the woman whose husband died?”

  “That’s the one,” Val said.

  “I didn’t realize they lived near Reid.”

  Lilah frowned as they climbed out of the car, her mind racing. She hadn’t put much weight on Val’s suspicions before, but she hadn’t realized how close Reid lived to the man who had died. No wonder the police viewed him as a major suspect. He lived within walking distance of the murder victim.

  Val knocked on the door and gave Lilah an I-told-you-so glance when Reid answered. He met Lilah’s eyes and a concerned crease appeared between his eyebrows.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. “You look worried.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, giving herself a shake and forcing a smile. “Here’s your jacket. It fell behind the counter somehow.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “And thanks for driving it all the way out here.”

  “No problem,” she assured him. “It’s a nice day for a drive, and it was good to clear the paint fumes out of our systems.”

  “Do you two want to come in?” he asked. “I don’t have much to offer, unfortunately. Some beer… I could make coffee.”

  “Thanks for the offer,” Val said. “But we were going to stop at Cafe Latte to try out their new drinks. Do you want to come with?”

  “I do, but I can’t,” he said reluctantly. “I have a call with my lawyer scheduled in half an hour. He’s trying to figure out this mess. I’m going stir crazy without anything to do. I never thought I’d want to get back to work this badly.”

  “We’ll see you later, then,” Lilah said. “I hope your call goes well.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call you tonight.”

  Val was smirking when they got back into the little blue car.

  “What?” Lilah asked.

  “Oh, just the two of you. I love watching romances develop.”

  “It’s not…” She sighed, realizing arguing with her friend would be a losing battle; in part, because she wasn’t even too sure that Val was wrong. “Come on, let’s just go get that coffee.”

  Val took them a different way out of the neighborhood than how they came in. Lilah slowed down as they approached a house that had what looked like dozens of flower bouquets on the porch.

  “That’s where Lydia lives,” her friend said. “People keep bringing her flowers and food. She brought them in at first, but I think it’s just getting to be too much for her. They mean well, but a bunch of dead roses aren’t going to help her deal with John’s death.”

  “That’s sad,” Lilah said, letting the engine idle. “It’s hard to imagine what she’s going through.”

  A knock on her window startled her. She turned her head to see a balding man wearing a reindeer sweater peering in at her. She rolled down the window, and he poked his head in.

  “I just wanted to make sure you found the right house,” he said. “That’s me.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards a house that was decked out in Christmas cheer, complete with an animatronic Santa Claus in the yard. “I can help you carry the two liters
up.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lilah said. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, my gosh, you aren’t the pizza delivery person?” He looked into the back seat of her car as if expecting to see a pizza box. “Sorry, miss. My mistake.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” she said, beginning to roll up the window. The man stuck his arm in, blocking her.

  “Chris,” he said. “Chris Burk.”

  “Nice to meet you.” She shook his hand quickly, feeling completely befuddled by the situation. What was with this guy? “Have a nice day.”

  “Merry Christmas!” he called as she pulled away. “And a happy New Year!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  * * *

  “Thanks for helping out,” Margie said. “I know you must be busy.”

  “There actually isn’t much left to do at the shop,” Lilah said. “Reid helped me install the window yesterday, and I found the perfect table and chair set, and a nice little display rack to go in the front window. All that’s really left to do is the inspection, which is happening tomorrow. It’s nice to take a little break before the grand opening. Besides, I always enjoy learning new recipes with you.”

  She had finally set a date for the grand opening; the Thursday before Christmas. She and Val had hung a banner in the front window to announce it, and she had made sure that everyone close to her could attend. Even her father was planning on coming, which she felt was a big step for the two of them.

  “I’ll be sure to tell everyone that you helped,” Margie said. “This charity raffle means a lot to a lot of people in the area; I know they’ll be grateful.”

  The older woman was constantly involved with charities and volunteering to help at local events. Today, the two of them were going to be baking a couple dozen cookies for a charity auction. The winner would get a basket of cookies, and a gift card to Lilah’s new shop. It was good advertising for the cookie shop, and, of course, a nice thing to do for the holidays.

  The first cookies on their list were basic chocolate chip cookies. They were a popular recipe for a reason, and never got old. Lilah was sure she could make them with her eyes closed. As she reached for a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, she had an idea.

  “Hey, since this is a holiday charity event, what do you think about spicing it up a little?” she said. “I’ve got some festive red and green chocolate chips at my house. I can run over and get them if you want.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Margie said. “I’ll get the dough ready while you go get them.”

  Lilah hurried over to her house, glad that she lived so close. It was wonderful to have one of her best friends as a neighbor. She didn’t know what she would do when she moved one day.

  She was digging through her cupboard for the chocolate chips, keeping Winnie back absentmindedly with her leg, when her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, and wasn’t surprised to see it was Reid. He had been calling her every day since their date. She didn’t mind. In fact, she enjoyed their conversations. He always seemed interested to hear about the cookie shop, and gave her encouragement when she needed it. She just wished things were going as well for him; he was still on unpaid leave from his job, and neither of them knew if the police were making any progress on the murder case.

  She hadn’t thought as much about John’s murder as she would have if she hadn’t been distracted by the looming opening of the cookie shop. When she did take the time to mull it over, she found it chilling that no one seemed to have any idea what had happened. All the public knew was that he had been found dead in his pool. His wife might know more, but she wasn’t about to go and bother the poor woman for answers. All she could do was hope that the killer would be found soon. Reid deserved to have his name cleared, and Lydia deserved peace.

  Lilah bit her lip as she stared at her cell phone. She felt bad ignoring the call, but she was supposed to be helping Margie right now. Plus, Reid had been hinting about them going on another date, and she wasn’t sure what she would say if he asked her. She had enjoyed their last date, and there had definitely been a spark there, but she still had most of the same reservations about a relationship with him that she had before. Besides, she was going to be so busy with the grand opening that she didn’t know when she would have time to go out.

  The ringing stopped. She had waited too long to make up her mind, and it had gone to voicemail. Lilah mentally promised Reid that she would call him back later, then shoved the phone in her pocket and continued her search for the festive chocolate chips.

  When she got back to Margie’s, the older woman had the small television in her kitchen on and was watching the news. She waved Lilah over as soon as she came in.

  “Look at this,” she said. “It’s about Reid.”

  Lilah put down the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and listened the news anchor.

  “A suspect in a local murder case was arrested this morning, and has just been released on bail. The man refused to comment.” The video footage showed Reid walking out of the local courthouse with a small, thin man next to him whom Lilah assumed was his lawyer.

  The footage switched to something else, and she turned to Margie with a guilty look on her face. “Oh my goodness, that must be what he just called me about,” she said. “I let it go to voicemail since I was busy. I feel terrible now.”

  “Go call him back,” Margie said. “The cookies can wait.”

  Lilah hurried into the other room and redialed Reid’s number. It went to voicemail, and she left him a quick message telling him what she had seen. A moment later, she got a text from him.

  With my lawyer now. I’ll call you later.

  She had no choice but to put the phone back in her pocket and go finish baking the cookies with her friend while she waited. Her mind raced as she wondered what in the world was happening. Why had Reid gotten arrested? Had the police found some evidence against him? If so, did that mean that Reid was the killer?

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  Reid called her back later that evening. She answered his call immediately, anxious to hear what had happened.

  “I’m fine,” he told her. “My lawyer thinks he can get the police to drop the charges. Things should turn out okay.”

  “What happened, though?” she asked. “Why did they bring you in in the first place?”

  “All I know is they got an eyewitness statement from a neighbor that they saw someone matching my description go into John’s yard around the time of death. Thankfully we have cameras at the machine shop, and once the judge reviews the footage, he’ll see that I couldn’t possibly have been there at the time the neighbor said I was.”

  Lilah felt a rush of relief. Not only would the charges against Reid get dropped, but video evidence that he was at work during the time that the murder happened, had to be pretty solid. Hopefully he would be completely removed from the case as a suspect. She couldn’t believe that she had doubted him earlier. She shouldn’t have let herself believe that he would kill someone, accidentally or not, even for a second.

  “It’s good that you have proof that you were at work when all of this happened,” she said. “Do you think the neighbor was lying, or does the killer just look a lot like you?”

  “I don’t know,” Reid said. “To be honest, I don’t even know if they’re sure that John was murdered.”

  “What do you mean?” Lilah asked, surprised.

  “Well, I talked to Lydia after I got home, and she said that John had been found in the pool with a head injury. Now, I don’t like to say this about a dead man, but everyone knew that he had a bit of an alcohol problem. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he started drinking when he got home after that scene at work. I don’t know why he would have gone out to the pool in this weather, but, well, you see where I’m going.”

  “You think he got drunk and fell into the pool?” Lilah asked. “He just hit his head… and drowned?”

  “That’s what hi
s wife thinks happened,” he told her. “She thinks that the only reason the police are so reluctant to declare his death an accident is because of how large his life insurance policy was. I’m sure my argument with him right before he died isn’t helping matters either.”

  Lilah’s eyes went wide. She remembered Lydia saying something about her husband’s life insurance policy shortly before he died. She had even joked about using the life insurance money to support herself after he got laid off. At least, she was pretty sure that it had been a joke… but what if it hadn’t?