Home Sweet Homicide: A Cozy Mystery (A Gemma Stone Murder Mystery Book 5) (3 page)

“Gemma, good to see you again,” he said.

She nodded, unable to speak, wanting to say a dozen things, ask a thousand questions.

“Um, they’re going to want to get a statement from you guys for the record,” he began. “And another detective will be contacting you with any more questions.”

“For a suicide?” Mitch said.

“It wasn’t suicide,” Ross said quietly. “It was murder.”

“O
h, no,” Holly gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. She inched closer to Mitch who held her even tighter.

“Murder,” Gemma whispered standing to face Ross. “Are you sure?”

“The coroner found bruises on her neck inconsistent with hanging. It looks like she was just hung there to make it look like a suicide,” Ross explained.

“Why can’t we give our statements to you?” Holly asked.

It was clear to Gemma that she wanted to get past this, move on as quickly as she could. Gemma felt pretty much the same way.

Ross stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away. There was that muscle twitching in his jaw again, a sure sign he was agitated about something. Gemma had no idea how close he and Katie had been during the past two months. Only as close as Katie would have allowed, for sure. She used men to get what she wanted and then tossed them aside.

Was he hurting? Devastated at her loss? He didn’t appear to be but then Ross was a cop all the way to the bone.

Gemma’s first instinct was to comfort him but she held back. She caught a whiff of his scent, rich like coffee and slightly woodsy. It reminded her of the times they had been together.

“I won’t be able to work this case,” Ross finally said. “I was...close...to the victim.”

The way he said it made Gemma think that he wasn’t that close at all, but she had seen him leave her house with Katie Mack on Valentine’s Day. More than one person had told her they’d seen them together around town, out to dinner or at the movies. Knowing Katie, she wouldn’t have let Ross go until she was finished with him.

“Someone from Harrisonburg PD is coming, then?” Mitch asked.

Ross nodded. “Probably. I don’t like handing over my cases to someone else, but I don’t have any choice. I’ve already contacted the Chief. They’ll send someone down within the hour.”

Over Ross’s shoulder, Gemma saw the gurney being rolled across the porch and carefully moved down the steps to the coroner’s van. The body bag was no longer folded up. At the same time, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Nick Leonard dodging through traffic and around the every growing crowd of people as he headed in their direction.

This was the first time she’d seen him since he’d broken up with her on Valentine’s Day as well.  Gemma had been dreading the moment when she ran into one of them or saw them with someone else. Now here she was, face to face with both of them at the same time under almost unbearable circumstances.

Nick bounded up onto the porch and headed in their direction, his boyishly handsome face filled with concern. His gaze flicked from Gemma to Ross and then to Holly and Mitch.

“Gemma, are you okay?” he asked, only a little breathless.

His dark brown hair was windblown and he wore his usual outfit of khakis and a dress shirt.  He reached out as if to touch her, then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he grabbed his trusty pen and notepad out of his back pocket.

Gemma nodded. “I’m okay.”

But she wasn’t okay. She had no idea whether Nick was dating someone or not but the tension between the three of them was so thick, she could almost see it. Both men she cared about were within arm’s length and she couldn’t bring herself to touch either one of them.

“I heard it on the scanner at the office,” he explained. “What happened?”

“Gemma and Holly had an appointment with Katie Mack to look at houses today. They found Katie hanging in the master bedroom closet,” Mitch told him.

“Suicide?”

Ross shook his head slowly back and forth. “We’ll have to wait for the full coroner’s report, but he saw bruising that wasn’t consistent with suicide.”

“Any thoughts?” Nick asked.

Gemma knew he already had a headline and the first paragraph of his newspaper story in his head.

“I can’t say anything else. I won’t be handling the case,” Ross told him.

Nick gave him a quizzical look but said nothing.

“And you might want to sit on that story until tomorrow,” Ross added.

“I will,” Nick promised. “I’ll definitely wait until after Biggs does the autopsy.”

“Excuse me, sir.”

Both Ross and Nick turned to look at young Officer Milken standing behind them.

“Sirs,” he amended and Gemma saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed quickly. “I need to get a statement from the ladies.”

Ross simply turned and walked away. Nick followed.

“I need to question you separately,” he said, leading Gemma toward the front door. “If you’ll just come with me.”

“Not in there,” she said, glancing at the horrified look on Holly’s face. “Can we go somewhere else?”

“Sure,” he said with a little smile. “Let’s just go out by the cruiser.”

Once they were out in the yard and a bit further away from the house, some of the heaviness eased out of Gemma’s shoulders. She was very aware of people still gathered on the sidewalk watching. She was aware of officers moving around the home, taking pictures and measurements, doing their job. But she was mostly aware of Detective Ross Ferguson sitting in his car, watching everything from a distance.

This must be the hardest thing he’s ever had to do, Gemma thought.

“If you’ll just tell me what happened that’s all I need for right now,” Officer Milken said.

Before she could answer, Officer Bailor breezed by. He glanced at Gemma and then turned to the police officer who was about to take her statement. “You won’t believe what someone just told me.”

Gemma tried to pretend she wasn’t listening but she desperately wanted to hear what he said.

“What?”

Officer Bailor whispered something to his partner but all Gemma heard was the “early this morning” and “witch”.

Officer Milken laughed aloud. “Shut up.”

“That’s what they told me.”

Milken pushed Bailor aside and turned his attention back to Gemma. “Sorry about that,” he said.

It took her a moment to get her thoughts together. Her Aunt Maisy had turned up at her house out of the blue that morning. And she’d been dressed like a witch.

“Miss?”

“Oh, sorry,” Gemma said shaking off the confusing thoughts. “My friend Holly Blake is getting married soon. She just started house hunting today,” Gemma began.

“So you had an appointment?” he asked.

Gemma nodded and opened her mouth to say something else, but he interrupted.

“Were you on time?”

“Yes, maybe even a little bit early,” Gemma answered.

He nodded for her to continue.

“When we got here the door was unlocked and slightly open.” Gemma paused for a moment, struggling to remember if it was open or not. “We thought Katie was inside waiting for us, but when we called out she didn’t answer.”

Officer Milken was writing as fast as he could with his stubby pencil. Gemma gave him a moment to catch up.

“We looked around downstairs and when she didn’t show, we went upstairs looking for her. That’s when we found her hanging in the master bedroom closet,” Gemma finished.

“Did you touch anything?”

“We touched lots of things,” Gemma said. “Doorknobs, furniture.”

“The body?”

“No.”

“Okay, when the detective from Harrisonburg gets here, he’ll want to ask you a few more questions. Standard procedure.”

Gemma nodded.

“Could I get your name and number?”

Reaching into her purse, Gemma pulled out a business card and handed it to him.

He looked at it closely and then turned his attention to Holly, who was still standing at the foot of the steps with Mitch.

Gemma knew she’d been dismissed.

Gemma traded places with Holly and watched her friend as she talked to Officer Milken out of earshot. Other officers that had arrived later were still talking to the neighbors.

Both Nick and Ross were gone. She imagined Nick already talking to the coroner. Nick loved his job as a reporter for the local newspaper. He was friends with almost everyone in town because of that. She had no idea where Ross had gone.

“Will you drive Holly’s SUV home?” Mitch asked, never taking his eyes off of his future bride.

“Yes,” Gemma told him.

“I don’t think she should be driving right now. Were you supposed to look at more houses today?”

“No. We’re supposed to look at shops downtown tomorrow,” Gemma told him. “But that is with Esmerelda Hunt.”

“Katie’s cousin?”

Gemma nodded. “If I remember correctly they weren’t all that close, but you never know. I’ll just call and see if she wants to cancel.”

Mitch nodded. “Sounds like a good idea. We’ll come by and get the SUV later.”

He placed the keys in Gemma’s hand just as a car screeched to a halt, barely missing the police cruisers parked on the street. A miniature version of Katie Mack, perfectly coiffed blonde hair and all, leaped out of the car, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was followed closely by a much larger woman who appeared to be trying to stop her.

Gemma recognized the big woman as Esmerelda Hunt, or Essie as everyone called her in school. There were other names they called her behind her back because she was such an oddity, head and shoulders taller than everyone in their classes, big boned, clumsy and somewhat slow witted. Gemma was ashamed of that now, especially at this moment when Essie was desperately trying to keep up with the smaller woman.

“Oh, God, Katie’s mom is here,” Holly moaned. “She’s an even bigger drama queen than Katie.”

Officer Milken stepped up as if to stop the woman but she nearly knocked him down as she rushed past. It wasn’t until she reached the driveway that Gemma realized Katie’s mom was headed straight for her and she had murder in her eyes.

“Aunt Cheryl,” Essie shouted, struggling to catch Katie’s mom. “Aunt Cheryl, stop.”

“You!” Cheryl Mack screamed as she raced toward Gemma, talons out, eyes wild, hair coming loose. “My baby killed herself because of you.”

G
emma simply stood there, mouth open and staring in disbelief.

Just before Cheryl reached Gemma, Mitch yanked her backwards out of reach, almost pulling her off her feet. Essie grabbed her screaming aunt and finally led her away, her voice a steady drone as she tried to calm her down.

“They had a big fight. He wanted to break up with my sweet baby, all because of you,” Cheryl continued to rant as Essie half dragged her away. “He broke her heart. He was the love of her life and she just couldn’t bear losing him.”

“What is she talking about?” Gemma asked Holly, who had come to her side.

By this time Cheryl had flung herself across the hood of Katie’s car, sobbing hysterically.

“She’s just upset,” Holly said. “Had to take her frustration out on someone and you were the closest person she could find.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here. This is turning into a circus,” Mitch said, keeping an eye on Cheryl Mack as he led Gemma and Holly away from the scene.

Gemma climbed behind the wheel of Holly’s SUV, adjusted the seat so she could reach the pedals and turned the key. She kept one eye on Cheryl Mack and Essie as she backed out of the street to the corner and drove away. Mitch followed in his car with Holly by his side.

At home, Gemma simply sat in the quiet car for a moment, resting her head on the steering wheel. She couldn’t get the sight of Katie’s mom, running toward her like a wild animal, out of her mind.

She took a deep breath and her thoughts wandered to Ross. How was he going to deal with giving up the reins and having an out of town detective run the case? Was he really breaking up with Katie? Were they an item to begin with? She shrugged off that thought. Perhaps she should call him just to check. She’d made it a point not to call or contact either of them since Valentine’s Day but this was different. She would just ask him if he was okay and then...

Gemma reached for her phone, still debating whether to make the call or not. At least she didn’t have to wonder how it would feel seeing him and Nick again. That was over and more awkward than she could have ever imagined.

A shadow appeared in the window right beside her and she turned. The face in the window was a witch with her mother’s smile. Recognizing her Aunt Maisy hit her at the same time but she still clamped both hands over her mouth to stop from screaming.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Gemma opened the heavy door and stepped out. Her legs were shaking.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Aunt Maisy said quickly. “But when you didn’t get out of the car I thought something was wrong.”

“I was just catching my breath,” Gemma gasped.

“I’m sure you’ve had a busy day,” Maisy continued in her soft, soothing voice.

“You have no idea,” Gemma breathed.

“Well, come inside and tell me all about it. I made a casserole for dinner. I hope you like tuna,” Maisy said.

The house smelled wonderful. Gemma detected the aroma of crusty fresh baked bread and garlic. Aunt Maisy must have gone grocery shopping.

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Gemma said, noting that the table was already set for two.

“No trouble at all, dear. You need to eat. You’re thin as a rail,” Maisy said, bustling around the kitchen filling their plates, pouring iced tea into glasses. Her long, purple dress swirled and swished around her as she moved. She still wore her tall, pointy black hat.

Gemma laughed in spite of herself. First, she and Holly find their real estate agent dead and then she comes home to dinner having been cooked by a long lost aunt dressed like a witch. Could this day get any stranger? Of course, she wasn’t about to tell her aunt about what appeared to be a murder.

The casserole was delicious, filled with chunks of tender tuna, tasty peas and perfectly cooked noodles. It was topped with lots of gooey cheese, Gemma’s favorite part, and crunchy garlic croutons.