A Pattern of Murder (A Carom Seed Cozy Book 4), page 1
A Pattern of Murder
(A Spicetown Spin-Off)
A Carom Seed Cozy
Sheri Richey
Copyright © 2024 Sheri S. Richey. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system now known or hereto after invented—except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper—without permission in writing from the publisher.
For further information, contact the publisher: Cagelink
The author assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that are inadvertent or inaccurate. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to reflect actual events or persons.
Front Cover art by Mariah Sinclair
Spicetown Mysteries
Welcome to Spicetown
A Bell in the Garden
Spilling the Spice
Blue Collar Bluff
A Tough Nut to Crack
Chicory is Trickery
The No Dill Zone
Cons & Quinces
Silent Night Dynamite
Keslar Mansion Mysteries
(A Spicetown Spin-off)
Cat In Cahoots
Cat Incognito
Cat In Control
Carom Seed
Cozy Mysteries
(A Spicetown Spin-off)
Murder All Sewn Up
Tailor Made Terror
A Fitting End
A Pattern of Murder
* * *
Romance
by Sheri Richey
The Eden Hall Series:
Finding Eden
Saving Eden
Healing Eden
Protecting Eden
Completing Eden
∾
Willow Wood
Knight Events
Chapter 1
Peggy’s feet slapped the hot pavement of Paprika Parkway as Sully pulled her along by the leash. She had taken him out early for a morning walk today, hoping to beat the heat, but when she had to change her usual walking route, it put her in the direct sun.
Approaching Fennel Street, she saw Mayor Bingham sitting on one of the new iron benches outside Chervil Drugs, swinging her feet forward and back as she glanced over her shoulder.
“Good morning! Are you testing out the new bench?”
Startled, Cora Mae swiveled around in her seat and smiled. “Hi, Peggy! Yes, and this one is a little high for me.” Cora’s feet did not touch the ground. “I’m waiting for Ted to refill a prescription for me.” Cora patted the seat next to her. “Give it a try!”
Sully greeted Cora Mae, and then Peggy sat down beside her. “I would be in the air conditioning, if I could. It’s already too warm for us.” Sully’s tongue hung out of the right side of his mouth, dripping saliva on the sidewalk as he panted. “We usually walk down Fennel Street because it’s shaded, but we can’t get by right now. If they don’t clean this mess up by tomorrow, Sully and I are going to skip the walk altogether.”
“I know. It’s gone on too long. The Chief said he would check on things, but having a semi-trailer truck parked on Fennel Street for two days has not just been a headache, but I’m sure it’s hurting everyone’s business. Saucy told me he couldn’t even walk by there to get to the bakery yesterday.” Harvey “Saucy” Salzman liked his morning social at the Fennel Street Bakery every so often. He didn’t go daily, but when the weather was nice, he liked to stop in for the camaraderie.
“I think everyone’s business has been hurt. No one has anywhere to park. They drive down just to see what’s going on, but when they can’t park, they move on. I can’t even see the bakery and I’m right across the street from it!”
“I’m surprised there hasn’t been an accident. It’s blocking the entire lane and you can’t see around it.” Cora Mae waved when she saw Chief Harris walking down the opposite side of the street with his dog, Briscoe, leading the way toward the new business. “There goes the Chief. Maybe he’ll hurry them along.”
Regina Adkins was opening a new dress shop in the storefront next to the Fennel Street Bakery called Sassafras. The semi-trailer truck had arrived yesterday to unload her merchandise and equipment. The sidewalk was littered with boxes and handcarts while several people walked in and out of the new store.
“Have you met the owner, Regina?” Peggy scratched the top of Sully’s head. His breathing had slowed, but he needed water.
“I haven’t, but it seems everyone else has. She’s been in City Hall, but I must have been out at the time. I was planning to stop in and introduce myself, but I didn’t want to bother anyone while they were moving. Dorothy said she’s been in the Caraway Cafe almost daily, but I always miss her. Is she nice?”
Peggy’s forehead creased as she searched for the proper word to describe a slightly pretentious middle-aged city person having a mid-life crisis. “She’s different.”
Cora raised one eyebrow and smiled. “I understand she’s brought a group of employees with her. I guess she doesn’t plan to hire local people.”
“My understanding is that this group travels with her to set things up. Sometimes she leaves one behind to manage the place and the group moves on with her. This time she said she plans to stay and give small town life a try, so I assume she’ll hire local people once they open.”
“Interesting business plan.” Cora Mae smirked. “Dorothy tells me the team she brought is mostly young people. I think they’ve come in the cafe. I wonder where they’re staying.”
“Oh, Clyde’s got them scattered all over town.” Peggy chuckled. Clyde Newman worked for Red Pepper Realty and had rented the storefront to Regina. He had also been helping her look for a permanent home, but in the meantime, he found temporary rental accommodations for the girls. “Regina is in the Nutmeg Inn, but the others are in rentals around town.”
“Well, I’m sure I’ll eventually run into them all.”
“We need to be getting back to the store. Arlene will be missing us, and I think Sully needs to cool down.” Sully got to his feet when Peggy stood.
“Okay, I’ll check on Ted’s progress. See you later.”
Regina Adkins rushed down the sidewalk toward Conrad Harris as he approached. He saw Briscoe’s tail and ears quiver with tension. “Whoa!” Conrad held his hand out to stop Regina and pulled Briscoe back to stand at his side. “You don’t want to rush up on a police dog like that.”
“Oh, sorry, Chief. I’ll be careful.” Regina calmed her voice and stayed several feet away.
“How’s it going with this?” Conrad waved his hand at the 18-wheeler blocking all access to the downtown community and the major east-west road through town.
“I know what you’re going to say, Chief.”
“You do?” Conrad’s eyebrows rose and he tilted his head. “What am I going to say?”
Regina hesitated a moment. “You want to know when it’s going to move.”
“I know when it’s going to move. You told me yesterday that it would be gone by noon today. Do you also know what I’m thinking? Or what I plan to do if it is still here at 12:01?”
“I know, Chief. It’s taking longer than I thought. I haven’t found a place to live yet, so I had them bring my stuff today so I can move it upstairs. I don’t know if I’ll like it up there or not, but it will be a place of my own for now.”
“As long as the truck is gone by noon.”
“But, Chief, I don’t know if that’s possible now. I hadn’t planned to move my stuff in when we talked yesterday.”
“I see two guys going in and coming out. Where are all the extra people you have working here? Why aren’t they helping?”
“The girls are upstairs cleaning the living area for me. I don’t think anyone’s lived up there in ages and I can’t unpack until it’s cleaned.”
Conrad huffed. “You can all clean house when the rig is gone. Right now, you need everybody you have out here in this street moving these boxes inside because at 12:01 today I will ticket and tow this truck off Fennel Street. Do you understand me?”
“But you can’t do that!” Regina advanced again and raised her voice.
Conrad pulled Briscoe close to lean him against his leg. “I can and I will.”
Regina stepped back and huffed. “So much for the congenial small-town welcome.”
“You had that welcome yesterday despite the fact that you systematically shutdown all of these people’s livelihood without a single consideration for them at all. None of these storefronts can get any business because you are blocking the street and all the parking.”
Regina looked down the street, avoiding Conrad’s gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t tell me. Tell them. You owe them all an apology, and if you aren’t going to be considerate enough to move that rig to the community center parking lot and carry your stuff down the sidewalk to your store, I will see that it gets moved myself.”
“I’ll take care of it, Chief.”
Conrad nodded and turned Briscoe around to walk back to the station. They couldn’t get down the sidewalk anyway and he had to start working on a plan to move an 18-wheeler. That situation didn’t come up often in a small town and it might take at least a phone call or two.
Chapter 2
Peggy opened the door for Sully and glanced around the craft shop. Seeing no customer s, she unhooked his leash and let him waddle back to the storeroom for a drink of water. “What did I miss?”
Arlene chuckled and nodded her head toward the street. “The little blond girl from across the street came over here wanting to borrow tape. I told her she needed to go down to the drugstore for that. She tried to argue with me that because we were a shipping store, we should have tape…” Arlene shook her head.
“Why in the world do they need tape? Everything is already taped up in boxes. If anybody has packing tape, it’s probably the guys driving the moving van.”
“Well, ten minutes later, the tall girl with dark hair came in wanting scissors. I showed her what we have, but our scissors are not for ripping into boxes. After she realized I wasn’t loaning her a pair, she went down to Chervil Drugs, too.”
Peggy laughed. “I hope they didn’t run into each other down there. From what Regina said, those two don’t get along well with each other.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Yes, she said when Clyde was trying to find them a place to stay, he suggested they share a vacant house that was for sale, and Regina said she put a stop to that idea. She was afraid they’d kill each other if they were left alone together.”
“My goodness! I can’t imagine working all day with someone you hated.”
Peggy nodded. “Apparently, the little blond girl is difficult to get along with. I think her name is Eden.”
“She looks really sweet, but I don’t think she’s too bright.” Arlene winced at the harsh statement, but there was no kinder way to describe it.
“I ran into Cora Mae down at Chervil’s. She said she was refilling a prescription, but I think she was spying on the Sassafras disaster. The Chief was headed over there to tell them to move that truck.”
“It was there all day yesterday, how much more time does it take to empty? I didn’t expect it to still be here today.”
“Me either! I’m sure he’ll take care of it.” Peggy opened Sully’s crate and he snuggled down in his blanket for a nap. “I had to walk down Paprika Parkway instead of Fennel Street when we were out on our walk, but when I walked by the Ole Thyme Italian, I saw JoAnne had a sign out front saying Stromboli is on special today. Now I can’t get it out of my head.”
“You should get some on your way home tonight!”
“I think I’m going to, but I’ll have to run Sully home first to come back and pick it up. I can’t leave him in the truck. I’ve been thinking about him lately and I think he needs to start staying at home during the day. I may have made a mistake bringing him with me every day.”
“He’s no trouble when he’s here.” Arlene glanced over and pointed. “He’s already sound asleep.
“I know, but he’s difficult to get in my truck now that he’s so big. He sleeps half the day away and he could just as easily do that at home. I may talk to my neighbor, Daniel, and see if he’ll check on him for me one day. I’d like to give it a trial run before school starts back for him.”
Peggy jumped when the bells on the door jingled and Karen Goldman walked in with her head still turned to the street. “Good morning!”
“Hi, Karen.” Arlene leaned on the checkout counter. “Are you off today?” Karen ran the Sweet & Sour Spice Shop on Ginger Street, just down the street from the Nutmeg Inn.
“No, but Donna’s opening for me. I just dropped in to get some floss. I was going to stop on my way to work, but I couldn’t park anywhere. I just went to the store and walked over here. What’s going on out there?” Karen hooked her thumb over her shoulder.
Peggy rolled her eyes. “Sassafras is moving in.”
“At a snail’s pace,” Arlene added. “That truck was there all day yesterday, too.”
“I admit, I don’t have a lot of experience moving, but surely it can’t take this long to unload!”
Peggy shrugged. “We can’t see a thing over there, so I don’t really know what they’re doing. I think it left last night and came back today, but I don’t know how much longer this is going to continue.”
“So, what do you know about this Sassafras place?” Karen said in a hushed tone, although no one else was in the store. “Have you met them?”
“Yeah, they’ve all been over here at one time or another. The owner, Regina, says she is going to stay around, but the other people are just here to help her set up.” Peggy pointed out the front window. “There’s Regina. She’s the one walking around the back of the truck.”
“I’m still trying to learn all their names.” Arlene touched her fingertips to her temple. “I can’t keep them straight. Kim is older, so I remember her, but the other girls look like they are in their early twenties.”
“Gretchen told me the other day that the young girls were driving her crazy. The boss is staying at the Nutmeg Inn and the girls are in and out all the time to see her. I think they all get in the lobby together sometimes and they make too much noise.” Karen glanced out the front window. “Growing pains, I guess. We want new businesses and progress, but it’s difficult dealing with those unknown personalities sometimes.”
Arlene pointed out the window. “There goes Regina. It looks like she’s headed for the Caraway Cafe.”
“A little early, isn’t it?” Peggy looked at the clock on the wall. “Dorothy might be in there, but they aren’t open yet.”
“Regina will probably just bang on the door.” Arlene grinned. “She’s pretty bold.”
“City folks.” Karen sighed. “Well, I didn’t come to gossip. Really, I didn’t. I do need some floss. The color is number 420.”
“What are you working on?” Arlene propped her elbow on the cash wrap and put her chin in her palm. “Is it a kit or an original creation?”
“It’s very original and I’m really excited about it. I found this website where you could convert a photo into a cross-stitch pattern and I’m stitching a picture of the store! I plan to frame it and hang it up in the shop when it’s done.”
Peggy handed the floss to Arlene to ring up the sale. “I have some software that does that. I haven’t used it in years, though. I should probably let people know that I can convert their pictures if they want a personalized pattern. I hadn’t even given that a thought.”
Arlene’s eyes widened. “I can put that in our newsletter!”
Peggy chuckled as she pointed at Arlene. “Yes, you should do that.”
Arlene had revived the sale email list and started creating a regular newsletter to send to Peggy’s customers. Initially, it had been to share news of The Salty Shipper opening for business, but Arlene seemed to find an unlimited number of other things to share. She was now including free patterns, seasonal decorating ideas, and crafting tips in each edition.
“We’d love to see it when you’re done!” Arlene handed Karen her bag.
Karen pulled the door open and looked over her shoulder. “I’ll text you a picture, so you can’t see all of my mistakes!”
Peggy laughed and waved as Karen pulled the door shut, but she could see a faraway look in Arlene’s eyes. When she stared off into space with an unfocused look, it usually meant something had flipped her creative imagination. “What? What are you thinking?”
Arlene inhaled deeply and her thoughts poured out. “You know those paintings that Sonjay Wilson does of the streets of Spicetown? He has almost every storefront in town shown in one painting or another, and photographs of those paintings are online. I saw them after he sent several of them to town for that showing at the community center.”
Peggy nodded. “They were very expensive!”
“Yes, but everyone loved them, even people who had never been to Spicetown.” Arlene grabbed her mobile phone and her finger flipped through her saved photos. “We could print those pictures and you could convert them to cross-stitch. We could make a demo of each one and decorate the walls in The Salty Shipper with them and sell the patterns. We could even sell the display because your shipping customers aren’t all going to be crafty, and then we would just make another!”
