Daisy McDare And The Deadly Secret Affair (Daisy McDare Cozy Creek Mystery Book 7) (8 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“How are things going out there?” Chloe asked, on the phone. 

“About as well as you’d expect,” Daisy replied.

“So, awful then, right?”

“In general, people don’t enjoy because accused of murder.”

“That sentence belongs in the understatement hall of fame.”

Daisy sighed.  “Oh, what I’d give for a slice of pie right now.”

“Sorry, but where you’re going next, pie is the last thing you’ll find.”

Daisy furrowed her brow.  “What kind of a place doesn’t serve pie?”

“The ‘Sweat ‘Til You Drop Gym’ on Gray Road.  That’s where Olivia Connors posted on social media that she is right now,” Chloe replied. 

“All right.  I’m on my way now.”

“Good luck.”

“Wait a minute.  I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.  What is it?”

“I need you to call Trevor Webster and ask him out to lunch,” Daisy said. 

“Daisy, are you ok?  This morning you told me to stay away from Trevor at all costs,” Chloe replied. 

“And you should.”

“Then why do you want me to ask him out to lunch?”

“Because, you won’t be the one showing up to meet him.  I will.”

“You’re one sneaky woman,” Chloe said. 

“Oh, and make sure the restaurant you pick serves pie,” Daisy insisted. 

***

While Daisy waited for her friend to set up the lunch meeting with Trevor Webster, she headed over to the gym to confront Olivia Connors.  Things could get interesting in a hurry.  In the past, Daisy had found the mistresses of murder victims to be very combative.  Hopefully this time would be different.  Then again, Olivia would be coming out of the gym, so her endorphins might be running wild. 

No doubt Olivia had a lot of anger to burn off.  The life of a mistress was by nature a frustrating one.  They wanted nothing more than to have the man in their life leave his wife.  The last thing a mistress expected was to be cheated on herself.  There was great irony to the fact that mistresses couldn’t stand being cheated on.  Daisy didn’t have time to get into that now.  She had pressing matters to focus on. 

Daisy waited outside the door to the gym, ready to approach Olivia when she headed to her car.  Fifteen minutes passed with no sign of Olivia.  Then, Daisy got just the break she was looking for.  Then front door to the gym swung open, revealing Olivia.  She was looking down at her phone. 

That made it very easy for Daisy to sneak up behind her.

“Burning off some steam?” Daisy asked. 

Olivia clutched her chest and spun around, surprised that anyone was behind her.   

“What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?  You scared me half to death,” Olivia said. 

“It’s only fitting that you didn’t see me coming, considering the murderer snuck up on Hank the same way.”

Olivia gave Daisy a closer look.  After a moment, Olivia knew why she recognized Daisy. 

“Wait a minute.  You were at the party last night, weren’t you?” Olivia replied. 

Daisy nodded.  “I saw you having a rather heated argument with Hank.  It must have really burned you to find out he was cheating on you with a woman younger than you.”

Olivia went from seemingly exhausted from her workout, to suddenly flush with adrenaline.  Anger had a way of catapulting a person’s emotions that way. 

“That’s none of your business,” Olivia snapped. 

“Sounds like I touched a nerve.  I guess you never thought that Hank could betray you the same way he betrayed his wife,” Daisy said. 

Olivia started making some serious tracks towards her car. 

“I don’t have to talk to you,” Olivia insisted. 

“You know, running away just makes you look guiltier, and you already look plenty guilty as it is.”

Olivia stopped dead in her tracks, then whirled around.  Her anger was getting the best of her.  Suddenly, she lashed out. 

“How dare you talk to me that way,” Olivia barked. 

Daisy didn’t back down.  Instead, she remained aggressive, hoping that Olivia would let something slip.  Daisy knew just what button to push to set Olivia off. 

“I’ll bet you thought he’d leave his wife for you, that he’d give you a promotion.  The fact is, you didn’t deserve a promotion.  You planned a launch party that was a complete disaster.  Last night was about as much fun as a tax audit,” Daisy said. 

Olivia was full of rage now.  That usually played right into Daisy’s favor.  Suspects had a tendency to let things slip when they lost control of their emotions. 

This time, Daisy had pushed a little too far.  She hadn’t counted on Olivia coming so unhinged. 

Olivia appeared to be on the verge of striking Daisy.  Before that happened, Daisy pulled the pepper spray out of her purse and held it up.  That was enough to keep Olivia from attacking.   

“Stay away from me or I’m going to call the police,” Olivia warned.

Daisy called her bluff.  “No you won’t.”

“Try me.”

“You’re a murder suspect.  That last thing you want is the police hanging around, digging deeper in your life.  There’s no telling what they might find then.”

Olivia began to back away.  “I’m warning you to stay away.”

“What’s the matter, are you worried what they might find?”

Olivia got very defensive.  “You can’t prove anything.”

“Neither can you.  Saying you were walking your dog in the middle of the night makes for a lousy alibi.”

Olivia started walking backwards until she reached her car.  “It’s the truth.”

“We’ll see about that,” Daisy said. 

Daisy wasn’t nearly done questioning Olivia.  Unfortunately, Olivia had no intention of answering any more questions.  Olivia quickly got into her car and sped away, leaving Daisy in the dust.   

Chapter Twenty-Five

Daisy was still waiting for the day when one of these investigations went smoothly.  It clearly wouldn’t be today.  After Olivia sped off, it would have been easy to get discouraged.  That’s what the killer wanted.  It was what they counted on in fact.

Daisy couldn’t let that happen.  It didn’t matter how rough things got with the suspects.  She had to press on and find the real killer before it was too late.   

Just as Daisy found herself getting caught up in her thoughts, she got a phone call from Chloe.  And with that came some good news finally. 

“Lunch is set up with Trevor at MacGorman’s Restaurant on Granville Avenue,” Chloe said, on the phone. 

“Good work,” Daisy replied. 

“As an added bonus, the restaurant has five different kinds of pie.”

“That’s even better.”

“I found something else too.”

“You’re really taking to this internet research, aren’t you?” Daisy asked. 

“It’s probably the only time I’ve ever done anything useful on the internet,” Chloe joked. 

Daisy laughed.  “So, what else did you find?”

“I should have listened to your gut instinct about Trevor.  The more I find out about him, the less I like him.”

“Chloe, what did you dig up?”

“Ask Trevor what he knows about a website called ‘The Slush Pile Slog’.”

“What’s that?” Daisy wondered.

“It’s a gossip blog about the publishing industry posted by an anonymous source calling themselves ‘The Sword Of Truth’.” 

“What a pompous screen name,” Daisy said. 

“I’ve seen worse.  ‘The Banana Bandit’ comes to mind.”

“That is a pretty bad screen name.”

“Back to ‘The Sword Of Truth’, guess who referenced that a number of times on their social media pages?”

One name immediately came to Daisy’s mind.  “Trevor.”

“Bingo.”

“Did he happen to post any bad things about Hank Hammond?”

“He did more than that.  The site practically eviscerates the guy,” Chloe replied. 

Things were starting to come into focus all of a sudden.  Daisy smiled.  “Good work Chloe.”

***

When Daisy arrived at MacGorman’s Restaurant, she saw Trevor sitting at a booth in the back.  Trevor probably requested that spot because it provided relative privacy.  That also made it a great place to corner him. 

Daisy sauntered over and went straight to work. 

“Hello Trevor,” Daisy said. 

Daisy didn’t take a seat across from Trevor, instead choosing to stand in front of him, blocking any possible exit from the booth.  The only way Trevor could get by was to bowl Daisy over. 

Trevor looked up from the menu with surprise on his face.  “Daisy, what are you doing here?” 

“We have to talk.”

Trevor grimaced.  “Now isn’t a good time.  I’m meeting someone.” 

“Sorry, but there’s been a change of plans.”

Trevor was confused.  “What are you talking about?”

“You have a lot of explaining to do Trevor.  Or should I call you ‘The Sword Of Truth’?”

Trevor’s face went white.  Some people were good at hiding their true feelings.  Fortunately for Daisy, Trevor’s face was like an open book. 

Trevor stammered as he answered.  “How did you--”

“It doesn’t matter how I know about your blog.  The important thing is what you posted on ‘The Slush Pile Slog’, specifically about Hank Hammond.”

Trevor jumped on the defensive.  “So I complained about my boss.  A lot of people do that.”

“True, but it’s not every day that your boss is murdered shortly after you’ve posted awful things about him on the internet.”

“That’s just a bad coincidence.”

“At least that’s what you’d have me believe.  You know, I’ve been wondering all day what you could have argued about with Hank last night that would have made you flee from the hotel.  But now it all makes sense.  Hank found out about your blog, didn’t he?  Then last night outside the party, he fired you.”

Trevor tried to deflect.  “That doesn’t mean I killed him.”

“It doesn’t make things look good for you either, especially when you take into account your crush on Lindsay Donohue,” Daisy said. 

Trevor did his best to keep his jaw from dropping.  He was equal parts annoyed and flabbergasted that Daisy knew all these secrets about him. 

Trevor went into full denial mode.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t know why you think lying is going to make things any better.  Things couldn’t look worse for you right now.  There you were, pining for Lindsay all this time, while she was busy sleeping with the boss you hated.”

Trevor gave her a death stare.  “Stop it.  I’m warning you.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me?” Daisy asked. 

Trevor seethed.  “I didn’t kill Hank.  I was on the train at the time.”

“Why should I believe that?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Yeah, because you’ve been so honest with me up until this point, or to Chloe for that matter.  I knew there was a reason she shouldn’t get involved with you.  It turns out there were many.”

“That’s not true.  I think Chloe and I could be great together.”

“Chloe isn’t just someone you can use to get over Lindsay,” Daisy declared. 

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?  You think you have it all figured out.  But you’re not as smart as you think,” Trevor replied. 

“What am I wrong about?”

“Me,” Trevor replied. 

Daisy scoffed. 

Trevor continued.  “I didn’t kill Hank.”

“Then who did?” Daisy wondered. 

“You should ask Lindsay that.  I’ll bet you’ll get some interesting answers.”

“Throwing your old crush under the bus, huh?” Daisy asked. 

Trevor gave Daisy a cold stare.  “She threw my heart under the bus first.”

Despite all Trevor’s attempts to prove his innocence, his words did just the opposite. 

“You sure know how to make yourself look guilty,” Daisy replied. 

Finally, Trevor was fed up.  He looked to make an exit.  With Daisy standing in front of him blocking his path, that wouldn’t be easy. 

“This conversation is over,” Trevor barked. 

Daisy held her ground.  “Not until I say it is.” 

Trevor got up from the booth, grabbed a knife from the table and held it up in a threatening fashion. 

“Move aside—now,” Trevor demanded. 

Oh dear.  Trevor had gone off the deep end.  Daisy had never been threatened with a knife before.  As she looked into his eyes however, she realized he was dead serious.  It didn’t matter that they were in a public restaurant.  Trevor had completely lost his marbles. 

There was no rationalizing with people that were letting their rage get the best of them.  Daisy slowly backed away, giving Trevor space to pass her. 

Seeing that he finally had a clear path to the exit, Trevor put the knife back down on the table and ran out of the restaurant. 

Daisy clutched her chest and tried to catch her breath.  That got out of hand in a hurry. 

Brian and Lynn, the owners of MacGorman’s restaurant, came over to check up on Daisy.  It took her a few minutes to calm down.  She was so rattled that the MacGorman’s offered her a free slice of pie to cheer her up.  Daisy was more than happy to take them up on that offer.