Cream Pie Murderous Intent: Kim’s Cozy Mystery - Book 2 (Kim’s Cozy Mystery series) (4 page)

After the home invasion, Stacy was glued to Sharon’s side.

“Sharon, we will get through this together.” To properly recover from the attack, Sharon moved out of Huntington. She left with her family to Bayset, a neighboring town 55 miles away from Huntington. Stacy happily accompanied Sharon. “I don’t know why Kim didn’t come; this is just what we needed: some alone time with nature,” Stacy looked at the rolling hills, leading up to a steep mountain in Sharon’s backyard. The large trees provided shade during the humid days. The girls sat in the yard, sipping some amazing iced tea.

              “How are your parents handling the news?” Stacy asked Sharon.

“I didn’t tell them, I downplayed the incident so they wouldn’t get all worked up.”

“You didn’t tell your parents?” Stacy hissed. “They need to know, Sharon! You need to tell them the truth!”

“Keep your voice down; are you going to tell the entire town?”  Sharon replied.

“Fine, but I still think you should tell them,” Stacy insisted.

After a week in Bayset, Stacy decided to take a quick trip back home,

making the two hour trek alone. When she arrived, she pulled her Chevy into the driveway, then stepped out to stretch her legs.
What a day… I’m going to call the girls and put them on three way,
Stacy thought as she walked toward the front door.

“Hey, Kim and Sharon! I’m back!” Stacy said over the phone.

“Finally! I felt so left out of the mix,” Kim explained to the girls.

“Kim, that’s your own fault for not driving with us to Bayset,” Stacy replied.

“So true, Kim,” Sharon added.

“Yeah, guys, I feel so bad that I didn’t make the trip. Are you okay though, Sharon?” Kim asked.

“I’m fine; I’m with family,” Sharon reassured the girls.

“Where exactly are you, Stacy?” Kim asked.

“I’m about to get in the house right now” Stacy informed the girls.

“You should grab your stuff and crash at my house tonight; I miss you,” Kim said.

“No. You have a fiancé to keep you company,” Stacy replied.

“Well, I think we’re on the rocks right now.”

“Kim, you need to forgive him! Sam loves you!”  

“Easier said than done; I don’t know where to start,” Kim said sadly. She stiffened as she heard a commotion over the phone.

“Aaaaah the house! The house! I think someone’s in here!” Stacy shrieked in terror.

“Get out the house now!” yelled Kim as she called 911 from her cell phone.

Detective Mulling was yet again first on the scene, soon followed by an army of police and forensic officers. By the time Sam’s car arrived on the scene the police blocked off the street.

“I think we have to walk down there; the police blocked everything off,” Sam explained to Kim.

“I don’t care, I just want to be there for my friend,” Kim said firmly.

Kim raced down the street like a mad person. She fought her wait through the cops until she saw Stacy. When she saw Stacy, Kim threw her arms around her and never wanted to let go.

“You’re going to stay with me and Sam, and two police will be stationed outside at all times,” Kim reassured her. Stacy’s safe, and loving home was now a haunted memory. Her house was trashed. It was as if a tornado had rolled in, destroying everything. Stacy never had the opportunity to thoroughly investigate the entire premises, but she could see a quick preview of destruction just by standing at the porch. She looked in horror when she realized her living room had been torched and her sofa had been ripped with a knife.

Mulling stepped up to talk to Stacy and Kim.

“Once the forensics team is done, I will personally make sure you get a cleaning crew,” Mulling said to the girls. “I also want you to know this was very sloppy; they cut themselves on one of the vases in the living room. I can assure you, we will get the culprit.”

“Thanks, Detective Mulling. Stacy has been through enough already. I’m going to take her home with me and Sam. I’m very grateful for the patrol cars that will protect us outside my house,” Kim said in a rush.

“I cannot disagree with that,” Mulling agreed. After a terrifying night, Stacy was now snuggled in Kim’s guest room and talking with her best gal pal. They snuggled under a large blanket to hide from the malicious world.

Kim was all drama-ed out between Sharon’s invasion and Stacy’s house being trashed. She didn’t think she could handle any more catastrophes. She needed a normal day, so she went to the Johnson Resort, the only place still safe in Huntington.

She found herself recalling so many memories. The many weddings, balls, and parties that was held there. The first time she made the cherry pie in the kitchen, the place where she endlessly practiced baking and started her business. The Johnson Resort was her life.

Kim started to make her traditional cake. She used the best berries and the softest brown sugar in Huntington to make the creamy thick batter; she also made her secret flavored almond crust.  No one knew how she made it. It was top secret.

While she was toiling in her kitchen, she heard a loud, annoying truck killing her cooking vibes. She was trying her best to ignore them until someone entered the resort. She stormed out the kitchen to investigate the matter.

“We need to get that chandelier down and the paintings out of the convention room. We need to get those chairs out as well,” the movers talked amongst themselves.

“Why are you moving this stuff? I think you have the wrong place,” Kim snapped at the movers.

“We have a lot of things to move and not a lot of time to get it done, so take it up with Mr. Johnson,” the movers replied.

“That was rude,” replied Kim. “Where is Mr. Johnson? He’s my father, by the way,” Kim asked the movers. They pointed to the main office. She quickly walked to his office to find out what had happened.

“Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” Kim asked, her voice full of concern.

“I hate to lie, and I didn’t want you to find out like this, but I’m selling the resort,” Mr. Johnson said. His words hit her like a brick.

“What? But you can’t! This place is the life blood of this town! I grew up here! I had my prom, sweet 16, birthdays, and mom…” Kim explained as her eyes filled with tears.

“I know how you feel, sweetheart; that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. With the town on a decline and the murder, it just costs too much to run an empty resort. I have to sell,” the mayor explained, sighing.

Speechless and devastated, Kim cringed at the loss of her home away from home. “Just like that, you would sell this place?”

“I don’t have a choice. I’m broke.”

“How could you possibly be going broke?”

“Well!” Mayor Johnson stammered over his words. “The governor’s event was a last ditch effort to keep this place popular, and it came at a very expensive cost. With the death of that girl, things took a turn for the worst.”

It was just a hellish day for Kim; her child-hood memories of the Johnson Resort were disappearing fast. “What would Mom want?” Kim hoped the memory of her mother would convince her father to change his mind.

“Don’t bring her in this,” Mr. Johnson snapped. “That’s not fair, using your mom like that.”

Kim couldn’t bear it anymore. The conversation with her dad was sparking tension, and before anything else was said, Kim walked out irately.

Mr. Johnson scratched his grey hair and placed his head on his wrinkled hands. He realized in that moment how all his life’s work was crumbling down: his relationship with his daughter, his resort, and his political legacy as mayor. He sat, steeped in his misery.

Kim felt like a family member had died. The loss of the resort was just the ultimate highlight of a rough period in her life, or so she thought.

It was the last day to bid the Johnson Resort farewell. Kim asked Sam for some alone time, just to say her last tearful goodbyes. She arrived a little after 9:30 in the morning, with Sam dropping her off at the front entrance.

“Babes, call me if you need anything, and remember I love you.”

Kim looked at Sam with admiration. “Sam, I can’t say I love you just yet. I want to focus on the resort, and we can talk later.”

Sam felt like curling up into a ball; he held his head down and mumbled, “okay”.

Kim slithered out the car. She wanted to spend a few last moments with the resort she called home. She walked in the once grand hall, now bland and empty. The rich oil canvasses that once lit up the resort were long gone, leaving markings that showed where they once hung. She walked through all the rooms with pure regret at the thought of her dad selling the resort. How could her dad say goodbye to this?

She finally arrived at her favorite place: her kitchen. As a final goodbye, she had already decided she would make her favorite signature for the last time at the resort. She pulled out her pre-prepared ingredients and commenced making the pie.

After bending down to preheat the oven, she slowly straightened her slender body, only to see a 9 mm gun pressed against her head.

“I finally found you,” a man said.

Kim started to shake like a leaf. He clicked the gun and took it off safety.

“If you scream, I will kill you!” The stranger told Kim.

Very bravely, Kim asked, “Who are you, and what do you want?” She wondered if she would end up regretting talking to a man with a gun pointed directly at her.

“I know you were there in that room when my daughter was murdered. Either you killed Jasmine, or you know who did it.”

              “Please, I swear, I never entered the room,” Kim begged Jasmine’s father as he held her at gun point. He instructed her to get down on her knees and she obeyed his command. Her knees bruised on the kitchen tile as she clasped her hands and begged him not to shoot.

“I wasn’t friends with Jasmine, but I swear to god I didn’t kill her or see who did. I saw her in the room that night, but decided not to enter the room just to avoid her.”

Jasmine’s dad was still unconvinced. The short man with curly grey hair held the gun firm. “Stop lying! I know you did something,” he violently screamed.

Fear crippled every bone in her body. Suddenly, Mr. Johnson burst through the door in an attempt to fix his relationship with Kim. He held a photo album in his hand, and had intended to reminisce about the resort one last time. The mayor was not prepared to see a gun pointed at his precious daughter’s head.

“Hold on, fellow, we can work this out. Just let me know what you need,” the mayor pleaded.

“Can you bring Jasmine back? Can you give me a second chance with my daughter?” Jasmine’s father asked bitterly. “I never got a chance to know my daughter, to create a bond, yet here you are getting your chance to be with yours. Get over there beside her and watch her die.”

“Wait! Please wait! I know something about the night Jasmine died!” the mayor said, getting the man’s attention.

“What do you know?” Jasmine’s father asked impatiently.

“If I tell you what I know, you have to let my daughter go. That’s the deal,” the mayor said, trying to get the gun-man to agree.

“That’s not going to happen. I’m the one with the gun and calling the shots,” Jasmine’s father said. His palms were sweating, and he was itching to know what the mayor had to say. The gun- man walked over the door and pushed the chair up against the handle. When his back was turned, Kim dialed Mulling’s number so that he could hear the conversation,

“Okay, start talking, and if you tell any lies, I swear to god, I will kill you both right now!”

“I will give you the truth, but if I tell you, you must promise to let my daughter go. She is innocent.”

“I cannot promise that,” the gun man said sharply.

“That night when I saw Jasmine, she was heading up the stairs with the intention to meet with Sam.”

What are you saying?! Why would Jasmine even want to meet Sam? That makes no sense,
Kim thought to herself.

The gunman hung onto every word. He even forgot he was holding them hostage at one point. He got lost in the facts. He finally got a glimpse of her final moments.

“Jasmine entered the gentleman’s quarters, and I went in after her. I wanted her gone. I tried to convince her to leave the resort. She was in a tattered dress and she was delusional. She came in rambling on about seeing Sam. I told her to leave, but she refused to leave without seeing Sam.”

“Dad, what are you saying?” Kim asked as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I grabbed her and shook her, but she kept screaming. She cannot get him, not him, not him, not him.’ A few weeks earlier, I’d received a weird call from Sharon, Kim’s friend. She told me about a breakfast that Jasmine and Sam had; they were bonding. He’d just proposed to my daughter. I couldn’t let Jasmine ruin everything in the midst of my daughter’s happiest moment.” Kim cringed at what her father was saying.

He told them about an intimate date that Sam had with Jasmine, and the fact that he was with her before she died. Kim lost sensation in her body. Her father’s confession was killing her softly.

Mr. Johnson didn’t stop talking, he continued until the story was all out.

“She grabbed a steak knife and tried to forcibly leave the room. I just wanted her to drop the knife. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

By this time, the gun man was weeping. His hand shook. “What else?” he murmured to the mayor. The pain in the room was running high. The action of murder was coming off the mayor’s lips.

“I tried to grab the knife away, and the blade slid into her gut. She started to scream, and I didn’t want her to draw attention. I stuffed a muffin in her mouth to stop the screaming. When she stopped, her body was still and motionless. I realized she had died. I panicked for a few minutes and quickly went away to find Sam.”

Kim was shocked. Her dad was the killer!