Daisy McDare And The Deadly Secret Affair (Daisy McDare Cozy Creek Mystery Book 7)
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Authors: K.M. Morgan
Daisy McDare And The Deadly Secret Affair
K.M. Morgan
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Table Of Contents
Daisy McDare had a knack for getting into interesting situations. It wasn’t by choice though. The last thing she wanted to do was look for trouble. If anything, she’d been trying to run away from it. In the end, it always caught up with her. This time was no different.
Unfortunately, death came calling while Daisy was away on vacation. Suddenly her weekend getaway to Vancouver was no longer a laid back affair. There was no time to kick her shoes off. Instead, there was investigating to do.
A man was dead, and Daisy had a hunch he didn’t pass away from natural causes. Her instincts were becoming more finely-tuned with each case, and she’d need those instincts more than ever this time.
The party they’d both attended the night before had gotten out of hand. The man had a lot of enemies, and they all seemed to be in the same place at once. That was a recipe for disaster, and it ended up costing him his life.
The question now became, who had done the deed? There were no shortage of suspects. It would be too easy to find a smoking gun. Instead, there were plenty of questions, with no answers to speak of. Daisy had the investigation of her life on her hands. So she hunkered down, knowing she had a long day ahead of her.
After all, the killer was still out there, and she wasn’t going to stop until she found out who it was.
Two Days Earlier
What a difference five months made. Cozy Creek had gone nearly half a year without any murders. It had been a peaceful time. Daisy was able to focus on her thriving decorating business. Crime had dried up in the town to the point that Detective Chris Crumple had even found time to start dating again. He’d taken a liking to the assistant manager at the donut shop he frequented.
There were a number of interesting developments in Daisy’s life as well. One of which was sitting in her living room right now.
“I can’t believe it,” Kara Carruthers said.
“Trust me, no one is more surprised than me,” Daisy replied.
Daisy’s old friend Kara had shown up in Cozy Creek out of the blue. The last time Daisy saw her, Kara was being accused of murdering her husband. Thankfully, Daisy’s sleuthing skills were able to crack the case and prove Kara’s innocence. Luckily, Daisy and Kara were meeting under much better circumstances this time around.
“If anyone deserves a book written about them, it’s you,” Kara continued.
Daisy was quick to deflect the praise. “The character of Rosie McNair is only loosely based on me.”
“How loosely?”
“The character is a wise-cracking, pie-loving, home remodeler who cracks a murder case to prove her friend’s innocence.”
“So, nothing like you then?” Kara joked.
It turned out the author of the book, Chloe Wilson, had made the character of Rosie McNair more similar to her real-life counterpart than Daisy ever imagined possible. Chloe had a lot of material to draw from. Chloe was Daisy’s old college roommate. They had been friends for the better part of fifteen years now.
The minute Daisy told Chloe about the deadly art affair murder case she’d solved, Chloe mentioned that it would make a killer concept for a novel. Daisy thought Chloe was joking.
Now a little over a year later, not only had Chloe written a fictionalized account of the case, but it was being published. Daisy was actually leaving for Vancouver the following day to attend the launch party for the book.
Chloe was nice enough to give Daisy a free advance copy of ‘The Deadly Art Of Murder’. Naturally the book was a fascinating read for Daisy.
When Kara heard about the book, she was equally interested in getting her hands on a copy. After all, there was a character in it based on her as well. Kara was itching to find out how the fictionalized version of herself had been portrayed in the novel.
“The character of Rosie McNair isn’t a hundred percent me,” Daisy insisted.
“So what, ninety percent then?” Kara joked.
“I’ll say this. Reading the book made me realize I eat too many cupcakes and not enough pie.”
“Food references aside, how is the book?”
“You mean does it make you look good or bad?”
“That thought had entered my mind,” Kara admitted.
“Don’t worry. Your character comes across as very true to life,” Daisy replied.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I was kind of a mess back then.”
“But look at you now. I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.”
Kara beamed. “That’s because I haven’t been. I have Jake to thank for that.”
“Not to mention your inheritance.”
“True. A woman can never go wrong with a bundle of cold, hard cash,” Kara admitted.
After Kara’s husband, the famous painter Luke Longwell was murdered, there was a dispute over his fortune. Luke’s kids contested their father’s will, trying to leave Kara with nothing. Instead, the will was upheld, and Kara got five million dollars from Luke’s estate.
Money was only part of the equation to Kara’s newfound happiness however. The other part was meeting Jake Smith. It was hard enough to find a good man in life under any circumstances. That task grew even harder after Kara became a multi-millionaire widow. Over the last year, she had met a number of gold-digging men eager to get their hands on her newly inherited fortune.
Then, on one brisk fall afternoon, she met Jake. He didn’t want her money. As the founder of a chain of frozen yogurt shops, he had plenty of his own money. They quickly fell in love, with no sign of that changing anytime soon.
Daisy couldn’t help but reflect on how much had happened in Kara’s life in the last half a dozen years.
“It’s amazing to think you were cutting hair for a living six years ago,” Daisy said.
Kara nodded. “Yeah. A lot has changed, hasn’t it?”
“Speaking of, I’m glad you and Jake have decided to move back to Cozy Creek.”
Kara looked out at the horizon. “The happiest moments of my life have been in Cozy Creek. It makes sense to build a life with Jake here as well.”
“Well, it’s good to have you back.”
“You know what that means. Ladies night is back on, every Wednesday,” Kara said.
“I’m marking my calendar as we speak,” Daisy replied.
Daisy gave Kara a hug and walked to her car. She was so happy that Kara and Jake would be settling back in Cozy Creek where they could all be close. She smiled to herself at the fun they would all have as time went on.
But she couldn’t help feeling a knot in her stomach at what a close call it had been to get Kara off the hook for Luke Longwell’s murder. How different life would have been if things had turned out differently. Daisy couldn’t deny the toll that the string of murders had taken on her. Even though they were behind her, life had changed in so many ways. She had a new found appreciation for so many things in life. Her family, friends and health. She looked forward to a bright future.
But Daisy’s fine-tuned instincts kept sending her a message. And it was an unsettling one. Something was coming. And that something was going to shake her world again.
“Now that’s what I call a ring,” Daisy said.
The other huge development in Daisy’s life was the recent engagement of her best friend Samantha Johnson to her long term boyfriend Trevor Thompson. This was a longtime coming. Five months ago, Samantha was worried that Trevor would never pop the question. Now, the happy couple were only a few months away from tying the knot.
“You could blind a person with a diamond that bright. Or, poke your eye out after being blinded by it,” Granny Annie Johnson said.
If one thing in Cozy Creek had stayed the same, it was Granny Annie. She was as irreverent as ever. If anything, she’d grown feistier over time.
“I’ve dreamt of being given a diamond like that one day,” Daisy said.
“Who knows? Maybe it will happen,” Samantha suggested.
“We’re not going to get into this again, are we?” Daisy asked.
“We both know Gavin is crazy about you. Popping the question is the next logical step.”
“Let’s not make this about me. You’re the one who just got engaged,” Daisy insisted.
Granny Annie jumped in again. “Bask in this moment. It’s more exciting than winning the Tri-County Bake Off. Which, by the way, I’ve won three times now. That’s right kids, Granny’s still got it.”
“Who knew you’d get this worked up over a pie bake off?” Samantha said.
“It’s important to take pride in what you’re good at. And, if you can one-up an old rival in the process, all the better. Take that Esther Steuben. Octogenarians rule, septuagenarians drool.”
Samantha shook her head as she listened to her granny’s answer. “Oh dear. The rivalry that won’t end rears its ugly head again.”
“It’s not my fault the men in the retirement villas prefer me over her. To the feisty go the spoils,” Granny Annie said.
“Granny, do you ever think about settling down again?” Daisy wondered.
“Me, get remarried? Nah. I’ve had my one true love for this life. Something like that doesn’t come around again. That’s why it’s so important for you to hold on to Trevor,” Granny Annie explained.
“That shouldn’t be too hard. Trevor’s a completely different man since leaving his old job. Now that he’s cooking for Carly’s Comfort Kitchen, he actually enjoys going to work. Which means he comes home from work happy instead of miserable,” Samantha said.
“When I look at that ring and think about your future, misery is the last thing that comes to mind,” Daisy replied.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Samantha said.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t,” Daisy replied.
“And I don’t know how you can see anything with that diamond shining so bright,” Granny Annie joked.
***
“I hate saying goodbye,” Gavin remarked.
“Then don’t,” Daisy replied.
The weekend was already going differently than Daisy had planned. Daisy originally wanted her boyfriend Gavin to come with her to Vancouver. Then, before she got the chance to ask him, Gavin revealed that his father had invited him to come to the vintage car show he’d entered.
After years of being on rocky terms, Gavin and his dad had finally started bonding again. It meant a lot to his father that his son would agree to come. Gavin’s father had really worked hard restoring his vintage convertible and was eager to show it off. As much as Daisy wished Gavin could come with her to the city, she understood why he had to stay.
Family was deeply important to both of them. There were something else at play however. She and Gavin had been together over a year now, but the honeymoon phase was far from over. If anything, Daisy was more smitten with her boyfriend now than ever.
Some couples thrived being together as much as possible. Others benefitted from a little time apart. Daisy didn’t need absence to make her heart grow fonder—it did naturally whenever she was around Gavin.
“You know I have to stay,” Gavin said.
Daisy nodded. “That doesn’t mean I won’t miss you.”
“Trust me, the feeling is mutual. I can’t wait until Sunday night when I get to see you again. But I’ll tell you what, in a few weeks, what would you say to going away on a romantic weekend trip?”
“That sounds magical. Where to?”
“That’s the thing. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Anywhere?” Daisy asked.
“Name it.”
“Hawaii would sure be nice.”
Gavin nodded. “It sounds like paradise. Unfortunately, that’s tough to do as a weekend getaway.”
“You’re probably right. It would make a great honeymoon destination though.”
Gavin tensed up. “Honeymoon?”
Uh oh. The engagement talk with Samantha and Granny Annie was still very much on Daisy’s mind. Not to mention her tongue. Samantha had mentioned that she wanted to go to Maui on her honeymoon. That got Daisy thinking about what her honeymoon would be like someday.
She didn’t intend to talk about it with Gavin however. It’s not like she was waiting for a proposal. Then again, if one came, she wouldn’t turn it down. She loved Gavin dearly. He was the kind of person she could spend the rest of her life with.
At the same time, she didn’t want to rush things. It was more important to let things go at their own natural pace. Down the road, hopefully that would one day include marriage. Unrealistic expectations could lead to very real disappointment. In the meantime, Daisy was happy with how things were progressing. Except of course, for her slip of the tongue leading to this awkward pause.
Daisy did some damage control. “Samantha and I were just talking about her engagement earlier. I guess it was still on my mind.”
A look of great relief came to Gavin’s face. “Oh. She’s a lucky woman.”
“She sure is. Hopefully, I’ll be as lucky as she is one day.”
“There’s no telling what the future holds,” Gavin remarked vaguely, dancing around the topic as much as he could.
“Whether good or bad.”
“I have a feeling we’re in for our share of both.”
“Really going out on a limb there, eh?”
“What can I say? I like living on the edge,” Gavin joked.
“Try not to live too much on the edge while I’m gone,” Daisy said.
“If anything, I should be saying that to you Ms. Decorator Detective.”
“That nickname just won’t die, will it?”
Gavin shook his head. “Not any time soon at least.”
“Well, I’m not planning on doing any decorating nor detective work on this trip, thank you very much.”
Gavin then stared deep into Daisy’s eyes. “I love you so much.”
He then gave her a big kiss.
“I love you too,” Daisy said.
She went to sleep that night with a smile on her face. Gavin was so wonderful. She started dreaming about their future. Even though she had scared him with talk of a honeymoon, she felt deep in her heart that they were meant for each other.
But she suddenly flashed back to the deer in the headlights look he had given her when she talked about Samantha’s engagement. Daisy knew Gavin loved her. What was he so afraid of?
“Time for sleep,” she told herself, and she turned on her side and started to snooze off. Her dog Shamus was snuggled beside her, already snoring away.
At some point in the middle of the night, she awoke in a cold sweat. Her sweet dreams of Gavin had turned into a nightmare. And her nightmare was in Vancouver.