Daisy McDare And The Deadly Secret Affair (Daisy McDare Cozy Creek Mystery Book 7) (6 page)

Chapter Seventeen

When Daisy and Chloe were safely away from the scene, Chloe turned around and confronted Daisy. 

“What was that about?” Chloe asked. 

“I’ll tell you after we check the dumpster at your apartment complex,” Daisy replied. 

Unfortunately, bad news was waiting for Daisy and Chloe.  When they arrived at Chloe’s apartment building, they discovered that the trash had already been picked up an hour before. 

Just to be safe, Daisy and Chloe did a once over of her apartment to see if maybe she hadn’t thrown out the wristband after all.  Once again, they had no luck.  The wristband was gone, and with it, any hope of easily proving Chloe’s innocence. 

It looked like Daisy would have to get her friend off the suspect list the old fashioned way…by finding the real killer. 

Daisy sighed.  “We just can’t get a break today.”

“It’s still early,” Chloe replied. 

“Exactly.  There’s no telling what will go wrong next.”

“Speaking of, do you want to tell me what your problem was with Trevor back there?” Chloe asked. 

“Trust me, I just did you a big favor,” Daisy insisted. 

Chloe clearly disagreed. 

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s something shifty about Trevor,” Daisy continued. 

Chloe was having a hard time separating her attraction to Trevor from the truth. 

“What are you talking about?” Chloe asked. 

“Didn’t you see how evasive he was being about the fight he had with Hank last night?  That man has some secrets.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Chloe, have you forgotten that he’s a murder suspect?” Daisy asked. 

“Technically, so am I.  I’m innocent though, so who is to say he isn’t as well?”

“Look, you can’t solve as many murders as I have without good instincts.  I get a really bad vibe from Trevor,” Daisy said. 

“So, you just have a hunch then?”

“For now.”

“But he was so nice yesterday.”

“If you haven’t noticed, a lot has changed since yesterday,” Daisy said. 

Chloe began grasping at straws.  “How sure are you about this hunch of yours?”

“The guy was flirting with you…at a murder scene.  Who does that?”

Chloe exhaled.  “That is pretty weird.”

“I’m sorry.  You know I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should stay away from Trevor.”

Chloe thought it over, then groaned.  “You’re probably right.”  She then bit the corner of her lip.  “So, what are supposed to do now?”

“I don’t know about you, but I can’t think on an empty stomach.”

Chapter Eighteen

When Daisy said she wanted her cousin Addison and her old roommate Chloe to meet, these were not the circumstances she had imagined.  With Daisy’s tummy rumbling and a long investigation ahead of her however, there was no better place to grab a bite to eat at than Toast Of The Town.  Not only was it the restaurant Addison waited tables at, but Daisy’s cousin also happened to be working that morning.

When Daisy explained the situation, Addison extended her sympathies.   

“I’m so sorry.  What an awful morning,” Addison said. 

“And we haven’t even had breakfast yet,” Daisy replied. 

“I’m about to fix that.  I’m going to have the chef whip you up a meal that will knock your socks off,” Addison insisted. 

Chloe smiled through her teeth.  “Thanks.  Although I’m not sure how much I can eat at a time like this.”

“Hunger isn’t going to make things any better,” Daisy insisted. 

Addison tried to cheer Chloe up.  “Besides, you’re in good hands.  Daisy has gotten me out of some real pickles.”

“Don’t build me up too much,” Daisy said. 

“I only do it because you deserve it.  I could be behind bars for a crime I didn’t commit if you hadn’t have saved the day,” Addison blurted out. 

Given the circumstances, that was probably not the best choice of words.  Addison immediately wished she could take that last sentence back.    

Addison grimaced.  “Anyway, I’ll go put the order in for you.”

Daisy meanwhile turned her attention to her old roommate.  Chloe was bouncing her knee, a bundle of nerves. 

“You just have to hang in there,” Daisy said. 

Regret was all over Chloe’s face.  “I should have never thrown that wristband away.”

“There’s nothing you can do about that now.  We need to focus on the present, which means finding the killer.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“The same way I always do.  Get a good meal under my belt, then get to work,” Daisy said. 

Chapter Nineteen

Breakfast ended up being a delight for Daisy’s taste buds.  Toast Of The Town managed to live up to its name.  The eggs were fluffy and scrambled with a healthy dose of cheese mixed in, the toast was buttery and made from fresh baked bread, and the country style hash browns were just crispy enough to make Daisy’s mouth water.  It was just the kind of meal she needed to get the day back on track.  Now that her belly was full, she could think straight again. 

There was a lot to sort out with this case.  It turned out there was no shortage of people that wanted Hank Hammond dead.  In addition, they all happened to have shaky alibis. 

Amelia Hammond had to be at the top of the list.  Hank’s wife had the most to gain from having her husband out of the picture.  To start, not only was Hank unfaithful to her, but he had not one, but two mistresses.  That was enough to put almost any woman in a murderous rage. 

Amelia seemed to have plenty of rage to spare when she stormed into the party last night and chewed Hank out.  Even more, with Hank alive, Amelia would have a lengthy, bitter battle ahead of her in divorce court.  With Hank dead however, she’d have a cheating husband out of the picture and millions of dollars in the bank. 

Next on the list was Jonah Ball.  Jonah was Hank’s editor at the publishing company.  He had followed Hank from Trillion Dollar Publishing expecting him to do groundbreaking things.  Instead, he felt Hank was running the place into the ground.  So Jonah jumped ship.  Only Hank wouldn’t let him go quietly.  No, Hank made a huge stink, threatening to ruin Jonah’s career.  People have been known to do some crazy things when they’ve had their livelihood threatened. 

Then there was Olivia Connors.  In addition to being one of Hank’s mistresses, she also did publicity and marketing for the publishing company.  In the span of one evening, she was exposed as one of Hank’s mistresses in front of Hank’s wife, discovered that Hank had a second mistress, and had a large public blow up with Hank just outside the party.  As an added bonus, she also discovered that Hank’s second mistress happened to be much younger than her, and worked in the same office.  If that didn’t have the makings of complete disaster, Daisy didn’t know what did. 

Of course there was Lindsay Donohue as well.  She was an administrative assistant at the publishing company.  More importantly in this investigation was the fact that she was Hank’s other mistress.  Lindsay was young and clearly looking to sleep her way to the top.  Only she ended up running into an unexpected roadblock.  No, not Hank’s wife.  She obviously knew Hank was married when she jumped into bed with him.  The real surprise for Lindsay was finding out Hank was also sleeping with Olivia Connors as well. 

The old saying was that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  Was Lindsay scorned enough to kill Hank?

Finally, the last suspect was Trevor Webster.  He was the wild card in all this.  Trevor was quite vocal about the long hours and grunt work he was subjected to at his job.  He had no kind words to say about Hank Hammond whatsoever.  And that was before they had a mysterious fight outside the party last night. 

Daisy didn’t know what they were arguing about, but it was about something big enough to make Trevor book it out of the hotel afterwards.  Then, this morning, Trevor had a completely different demeanor.  Suddenly there were a lot more questions than answers when it came to him, and Daisy was determined to get to the bottom of it. 

Either way, Daisy had her work cut out for her.  It was clear she’d need some help with this case.  She knew just who to turn to.

Chapter Twenty

“Gavin, it’s so good to hear your voice,” Daisy said. 

Whenever Daisy left town, she always called Gavin twice a day—once in the morning, then another time right before bed.  She hoped these calls could be lovey dovey in nature.  Unfortunately, on days like this, there was serious business to attend to.  That didn’t mean she couldn’t squeeze in a few kind words before getting to the unpleasantries.

“I was just about to say the same thing,” Gavin replied. 

“Every time I go away, I miss you even more,” Daisy said. 

“You know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder.”

“It’s so true.  By the way, how’s your dad’s car show going?”

“It’s actually much busier than I thought it would be,” Gavin replied. 

Daisy sounded surprised.  “Really?  Your dad must be having a ball.”

“Yeah.  He’s lapping it up.  Let me tell you, he is just thrilled that I agreed to come with him.  We’re bonding like we haven’t done in years.”

“That’s great to hear,” Daisy said. 

Daisy suddenly found herself in the middle of an emotional tug of war.  She knew how strained Gavin’s relationship with his father had been over the last few years.  For a time, Gavin worried his father would remain distant and cold forever.  Of late, they had finally started reconnecting, culminating in going to this car show together.  Family meant so much to Daisy.  So it brought a smile to her face hearing that Gavin was having a great time with his dad. 

Unfortunately, this was coming at a time when Daisy needed her boyfriend’s help.  In previous cases, Gavin had done a lot of the behind the scenes leg work.  He’d jumped on the computer and dug around for some dirt on the suspects, uncovering a number of leads for Daisy to follow up on.  His digital investigative work had proven invaluable. 

Daisy was hoping Gavin could do the same thing this time.  It appeared that wouldn’t be an option.  It sounded like Gavin had his hands full at the car show.  On top of that, Daisy didn’t want to pull her boyfriend away from his bonding time with his father.  The last thing Daisy wanted was to become someone generating a rift between them.  It was a tough position to be in. 

“Anyway, I hear my dad calling me,” Gavin said. 

“I guess that means you should go,” Daisy replied. 

“Not before I ask about you.  Are things going better this morning?” he wondered. 

After returning from the launch party last night, Daisy called Gavin and briefly went over what a fiasco it turned into.  Gavin didn’t know anything about the murder, and Daisy decided to keep it that way for now.  If all went well, she’d tell him about cracking the case when she returned to Cozy Creek.  In the meantime, she was going to leave him blissfully unaware of how crazy the situation had become. 

“Things still aren’t quite back to normal here, but I’m doing everything I can to help out,” Daisy replied. 

Talk about an understatement.  It was better than getting Gavin riled up though. 

“You’re a great friend,” Gavin said. 

“I do what I can.”

“Hopefully it all works out by the time you leave.”

“Fingers crossed.”

“I can see my dad giving me a wrap it up signal, so I should go.”

“Tell him I say hi,” Daisy said. 

“I will.  Love you,” Gavin replied. 

“Love you too,” Daisy said. 

Chapter Twenty-One

“What’s the verdict?” Chloe asked. 

Chloe had calmed down slightly with a little food in her stomach, but now that Daisy was about to begin investigating, Chloe was getting antsy.  Daisy’s friend hoped to get as much help as she could with this case.  Unfortunately, Daisy didn’t have the best news to share with her. 

“He’s swamped,” Daisy replied. 

Chloe became deflated.  “Well, that stinks.”

“We’ll have to take care of this one without him.”

Chloe sighed.  “Life can throw us a bone anytime now.”

“I’m going to need your help with this case.”

“Of course.  Just tell me what you need.”

When Daisy and Chloe returned to Chloe’s apartment, Daisy sat her down in front of the computer. 

“I need you to dig up dirt on all the suspects,” Daisy said. 

“What are you looking for exactly?” Chloe wondered. 

“I want anything and everything you can find.”

“I can do that.”

“Start with social media.  People say the dumbest things there all the time.”

“Isn’t that what social media is for?” Chloe joked. 

Daisy laughed.  “It sure seems like it.  Let’s hope one of the suspects was dumb enough to post something incriminating.”

“And if they didn’t?”

“At this point, I’ll take any lead I can get.  Now, time to get to work.”

Chloe stopped her.  “Just one thing first.”

“What’s that?” Daisy asked. 

“Thanks for doing this.”

“Of course.  This is what friends are for.”

Chloe smiled.  “Good luck.”