COZY MYSTERY: Trail Mix Murder: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 2) (2 page)

“And I said Yes!!” Amanda squealed, showing off the ring on her finger to everyone in the café. There were cheers and claps, as people rose up to congratulate her. Behind the counter, Victoria’s smile was blinding.

“My best friend,” Victoria said, giving her a hug. “I couldn’t be happier. You deserve a very long and happy life together. All three of you.”

“Oh, Steve told me you helped him plan it out,” Amanda said, hugging her tighter. “Thank you, Tory! Thank you!”

“It was my pleasure,” Victoria said. It truly had been. Victoria had gone all out in preparing the picnic basket that the family had shared immediately after Steve popped the question. She’d gotten up extra early and baked fresh Ciabatta bread, added little buttery rolls, smoked salmon, chorizo sausages, and a fresh salad. For dessert, with her sister Karen’s help, she’d baked a lemon plum pie that her family was known for.

“Congratulations Aunt Amanda.” Victoria’s daughter, 11-year-old Annie, gave Amanda a hug too. “Ida was so happy that you’re going to really be her mother now.”

“Congratulations.” Byron, Victoria’s son, a 16-year-old who wanted to someday be a rock star, temporarily lost his teenage cockiness as he hugged Amanda and smiled like the young boy he was.

“You’re all invited.” Amanda laughed. “Especially you, Victoria, I’m going to need a lot of help from you.”

“We can discuss it on a hike if you like,” Victoria said. “I was thinking of taking the Morrowind Trail this weekend. There’s going to be rain on Thursday, so hopefully things will be dry by the weekend. Plus, the fog will be gone and we’ll have a great view.”

“I love the idea of a hike,” Amanda said. “But there’s this new trail Steve was telling me about a month ago. The Ethereal Trail he called it. Let’s try that one, shall we? It’s not very touristy like the Morrowind trail, so it’ll be nice and quiet. Hanson Johannson told Steve about the trail.”

“Sounds good,” Victoria smiled.

The door of her café jangled, and a heavily muscled man in his late twenties walked in. Victoria gave Amanda a look that would be considered normal by an onlooker, although only a best friend could translate it as, “I hate this guy so much.”

“Ladieeees.” Declan Moran had a habit of stretching out his greetings like they were a wad of gum. “How are you this fine morning? Amanda dearest, I heard you did the unthinkable and got engaged to Steve? Congratulations!” There was nothing really wrong with his words, but the tone in which Declan said them somehow made Victoria’s skin crawl. “I know he’s this modern artist types. Personally, I can’t tell the difference between modern art and a pile of crushed paper. Honestly, LeeLee told me to guess which paintings in her house were worth a million dollars. I told her that I didn’t care. It has to look pretty, and that’s it for me. I can’t tell the difference between a watercolor and a million dollar painting, personally.”

Amanda, who was an art dealer besides being a librarian, looked even more annoyed at this. Still, Declan was the fiancé of one of the town’s richest women. The famous fashion designer LeeLee Brunt was a seasonal townie who made her way to Larch Hot Springs as soon as spring began and left as soon as winter showed signs of arriving. LeeLee’s arrival was always anticipated by the town, as she often threw grand parties at her mansion across the lake. The parties would go on for days, with food and wine flowing freely. As the caterer, Victoria couldn’t afford to be anything but nice to Declan or LeeLee.

“How’s your sister, Karen?” Declan asked, leering at Victoria. “I haven’t seen her around town these days.”

“Karen’s finishing up a big order from an American client,” Victoria said proudly. “Between that and her handling the General Store, there’s not much time for her to be social these days.”

“Pity,” Declan said. “LeeLee asked you to make sure she comes to our party this weekend. We feel it’s important to nurture dynamic young artists like her. Besides, being social makes you more creative, don’t you know?”

“I got no arguments,” Victoria smiled. “But once Karen gets into her creative phases, she seems to want no contact with the world.”

Truth was, Victoria felt that Karen should go out more often. Ever since their father’s death, Karen had been deeply unhappy, although she would be publicly brave. It was as if she was trying to fill the void he had left by focusing only on work. Victoria, who had burnt out as a writer after her husband’s death, knew that working that way would only lead to regret later on.

“LeeLee’s got a grand theme for this next party,” Declan said. “She said she’ll email you her ideas soon. But she’s planning to make it a sci-fi Egyptian party. How do you like that?”

“Sci-fi Egyptian?” Amanda looked amused.

“Yes, basically, imagine if the ancient Egyptian civilization were secretly astronauts, and are still alive somewhere in the galaxy,” Declan said. “We’re commissioning a few statues to be made just for this one party. Costs us plenty, but LeeLee’s earning plenty more.”

Amanda gave Victoria a sideways look. She never understood the logic of wasting so much money on hedonistic parties when it could be better served in improving lives. As someone who had scraped together every penny she earned, and still found time to volunteer and donate to charity, Amanda felt a natural dislike for LeeLee.

Not that LeeLee didn’t donate. She’d made plenty of donations to charitable organizations. It was just that she liked boasting about these donations a little too much. The townspeople mostly felt the same way about her as they did about Declan. They both were a little too arrogant to be truly included as townies.

“Did you want to order something, Declan?” Victoria asked.

“Oh, a chocolate chip mint smoothie for me,” Declan smiled. “I just finished a massive workout, and I deserve it.” He flexed his biceps, one after the other, and invited Amanda to touch one. “I’m actually going to participate in a powerlifting competition in Calgary next month.” He said.

“That’s really amazing.” Amanda said, unable to resist adding, “Especially at your age.”

“I’m only twenty-seven.” Declan protested. “I’m in my prime.”

Amanda smiled. “So this party, it’s LeeLee’s birthday this weekend isn’t it?”

“Her sixtieth, yes,” Declan said.

To his credit, he never looked anything but fond when he talked of LeeLee. Of course, in town, quite a few eyebrows had been raised last year when LeeLee had announced that she was going to marry her personal assistant, a man about half her age.

“She looks absolutely wonderful,” Amanda said. “I would have loved to look at twenty the way LeeLee does at sixty.”

“Oh, well, she puts a lot of effort into it,” Declan said. “That’s one of the reasons we fell in love. Both of us love to go to the gym together. I actually taught her quite a few exercises. I was a personal trainer back in Chicago, you know.”

“Do you still give classes?” Byron asked, from next to Victoria. “I’d love to know how to pack on some muscle.”

Leaving the two of them to talk, Victoria wandered back to her place behind the counter, while Amanda moved out of the café.

An Egyptian Sci-Fi themed party! Victoria sighed. Well, LeeLee was certainly creative and it kept Victoria busy. On a notepad, she began jotting down her initial ideas of party food, cupcakes perhaps? She’d decorate them with icing that alternatively looked like astronomical symbols (planets, spaceships?) and Egyptian symbols such as pyramids and the sphinx.

As for the servers, she’d have to ask LeeLee for extra money, of course, but she’d try and order Egyptian costumes for them all. Maybe I’ll go as Cleopatra, the great queen, Victoria laughed to herself.

Declan seated himself on the counter, and Victoria served up his chocolate chip mint smoothie as he talked on the phone.

From the other end, she could hear LeeLee’s shrill voice as the woman cried out. “and I ordered turquoise but these absolute animals sent me an ocean green shade.”

“I’ll talk to them dear,” Declan sounded resigned.

“Animals! I tell you there isn’t a half brain in that entire firm.” LeeLee sounded more and more indignant.

“Yes, dear,” Declan said, following up a few minutes later with. “I know dearest.”

Victoria served her other customers, feeling slightly amused, and watching him from the corner of her eye. Declan’s voice remained sweet and his words remained smooth but she saw his face grow redder and redder. She saw his nostrils flare with rage as he continued to talk with LeeLee. For a minute, Victoria paused, shocked at the naked display of his anger. Then, she caught his eye, and all the anger seemed to slide off his face, replaced with a blank slate.

Hastily, Declan tossed a few bills on the counter, and stormed out of the café, leaving Victoria to gape at him. What was the matter with the man she wondered? He had looked like he was at the end of his rope. LeeLee Brunt might think that she had the right to push Declan around as much as she wanted but she had better be careful. Going by the look on his face, Declan wasn’t going to tolerate much more from his beautiful, rich fiancé.

The party was everything that LeeLee considered cool.

First, the house was decorated to what LeeLee considered near perfection. They’d hired a projectionist from Barcelona to project Egyptian symbols and runes on the sides of the LeeLee’s massive white marble bungalow. The bungalow was already made in what some considered a roman style mixed with gothic influences, and it seemed to fit right in with the theme.

Then, as guests entered through the large, Italian crafted mahogany doors, they would witness a hallway that was lined with gold-gilded pillars. It had been cleared to include only authentic looking Egyptian furniture. In one corner, a band was playing very trance-like music. In another, beautiful women with scuba masks swam/danced in a floor-to-ceiling aquarium that had been created especially for LeeLee’s birthday.

As means of skirting past the strict noise control laws, the entire town had been invited to LeeLee’s birthday party. It seemed like almost everyone had shown up. The room was filled with awe-struck locals, mixing with bored looking socialites.

Victoria, back in her days in New York, had seen far more decadent parties and remained comparatively inured to them. Like Amanda, she believed that the money would be better spent elsewhere, but unlike Amanda, she knew that for someone like LeeLee, whose entire life centered around her fashion lines, parties such as this were as much a business decision as a personal preference.

Amanda had volunteered to stay at home and babysit Ida and Annie, and the two little girls had been very excited to have a slumber party. Byron, who had disliked the whole idea of the slumber party, had opted to work as a server just so he could see the lavish décor.

He stood in one corner now, wearing a mechanized suit with a jackal’s mask, asking passing guests if they would like to sample the crystal mushrooms or the orange walnut sambuca cake.

The final touch, of course, was a pyramid shaped throne on which LeeLee herself sat, dressed as the Egyptian Empress Cleopatra. She was dressed in a lavish gold armor gown, with a darker gold cape thrown around her. On a closer look, one could see that the cape consisted of feathers that had been hand painted with glitter. On her head were a wig of dreadlocked hair tipped with gold, and a bedazzled crown of jade and faux sapphire.

Victoria, despite herself, loved the theatricality of it all and thought that LeeLee looked quite fitting as an empress.

LeeLee had started her life as an orphan, Victoria knew. At the time, she had been named the rather plain Lily Brown. At age 14, she had been discovered by a photographer as she sold umbrellas and caps on a beach. Instantly, she had risen to fame, becoming a model, and had altered her name to reflect her new life.

But the fame and fortune had soon left her with a crippling addiction to pills and drinks. At 21, the lifestyle had ruined her looks, so that the former runway model was now a homeless drunk.

Instead of disappearing into obscurity, LeeLee had risen from the flames like a phoenix. She quit her bad habits, bought herself a sewing machine, and began going door-to-door, peddling her wares. Initially, she had no buyers until she began offering to sew custom fitted shirts. Skeptical customers fell in love with her clothes and the way they made them look and once again, LeeLee had found fame. Only this time, she guarded it wisely.

As she sat on her throne now, surrounded by a crowd of fawning admirers, LeeLee’s imperial face looked perfectly content.

Still, Victoria wondered if LeeLee was happy. Could one ever be happy, alone at the top like she was? Her work must give her satisfaction but she had no family and no true friends. She only attracted what Victoria thought of as a pack of vultures.

Victoria’s attention came back to the counter that she was manning, as a woman paused and asked for a drink.

“Just water please.”

Surprised, as she had so far only gotten requests for champagne or other expensive liqueurs, Victoria said, “Would you like ice or lemon?” She looked up with curiosity at the woman.

The woman had on a bright red overcoat, which perfectly matched the shade of her bright red lips. Her dark hair was artificially highlighted with gold, and although her skin seemed like alabaster from afar, up close, Victoria could see that her entire face was covered in a bright sheen of makeup.

“Hot in here,” Victoria commented. “Perhaps you’d like me to take your coat? I could have someone give it to the coat check boys by the door.”

The woman looked startled, then shook her head. “No.,” she said decisively, drinking down her water in one gulp.

“Did you just drive in from Calgary earlier this evening?” Victoria asked, trying to be friendly. “I heard the weather was pretty bad.”

The woman gave her a piercing, cold look. “No.,” she said again. Placing down her glass, she walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

Victoria, a little hurt by the rudeness, shrugged it off anyway. In the customer service business, you learned not to take these things personally. Perhaps the woman had just had a bad day.

Any thoughts about the mysterious woman in red vanished immediately, as behind her the music slowed and raised voices filled the room.

“So why don’t you just say it?” Declan was asking, his jaw sticking out, his eyebrows squashed downwards.

“Say what? Things that have been obvious to the rest of the world forever?” Hanson, the richest man in town, and owner of a whole lot of ski-resorts seemed like he was very drunk.

“You’re pathetic.” Declan was saying. “Sure, you own a few properties, and you had an aristocratic daddy, but when push comes to shove, you’re nothing but a schoolyard bully. And like a schoolyard bully, you can’t take it if someone else is happy.”

Victoria looked to see how LeeLee was responding to this disruption. instead of looking shocked or angry, LeeLee looked simply amused as she watched Declan flex his muscles and shout. She hadn’t moved from her place at the throne.

“Ok. I’m a bully.” Hanson took a swig of his drink, then upended it until he had finished every last drop. Instead of placing the glass down on a counter, he simply released it from his hand so that it smashed on the floor, as others around him screamed and scrambled away from the glass.

In the quiet that ensued, Hanson said, “I may be a bully, but at least I’m not an opportunist like you, Declan. Twenty-seven, and about to marry a woman of sixty. Tell me, would five million have been enough to trade away your freedom? Or did you only do it because she’s worth fifty?”

“You better shut up,” Declan said.

“Oh come on, Declan. Everyone here knows exactly what you are. We’re just trying to determine your price.” Hanson laughed.

With a roar, Declan charged like a bull, his head lowered and his powerful shoulders driving forward. Hanson, who was drunk but not stupid, swerved sideways, still laughing, as Declan went charging past him and crashed into the crowd of onlookers.

Slapping his thigh and hooting with laughter, Hanson approached Victoria and asked for another drink.

“You’re done,” Victoria said. “I’m cutting you off, Hanson.”

“Give me the drink Victoria, or you’ll end up...”

“Uncle Hanson.” A large, heavy hand fell on Hanson’s shoulder, as Corporal Randolf Jager, of the local RCMP, arrived. “I think you need a ride home, and I’m going to make sure I give it to you.”

“Oh don’t be such a stuck up prude, nephew,” Hanson said, laughing. “There’s no harm done. Just a few fun and games.”

“There’s no harm done, yet,” Randolf said. “I’m hoping to keep it that way. Now come on, Unc. Your choices are a night at home, or a night in the cell. Choose fast.”

“You think you can push me around?” Hanson hiccupped and slapped at Randolf, who took the blow without flinching. “You, this entire town, give me no respect. I own you people. I own ever...”

Rolling his eyes to the skies, Randolf shook his head at Victoria, and handcuffed Hanson, then began dragging him, kicking and screaming, to the door.

He had barely made it out the door when LeeLee had gotten up from her throne, and with a simple clearing of her throat, focused everyone’s attention back on herself.

“Well, now that the entertainment and drama are done.” She said with a laugh. “I feel it's time to begin the actual party!” She made a gesture with her hand, and the guests oohed and aahed as showers of chocolates covered in gold wrappers fell from the ceiling, with the music once again echoing out, playing “Happy Birthday”.

Victoria, not for the first time, stared at LeeLee’s impassive face and wondered what, if anything, the birthday girl felt. She seemed to treat life as a grand joke, with only herself knowing the answers. And yet, behind the mask of impassivity, Victoria thought there lurked an unhappiness.

Across the floor, she saw Declan dust himself off. Still looking furious his blank eyes met LeeLee’s. Then, deliberately turning, he walked away from her.