A Special Delivery To Die For (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 2) (8 page)

“It wasn’t until last night that I realized who the real murderer was.” She started walking around the table, speaking to each individual in turn as she passed. “The proof came in the package with the cuff link. My friend went online and looked at reviews about the Stevens Travel Agency. There were many complaints posted there, but several were extremely bitter and harsh.” She pulled out a paper from the folder. Here is the proof of the real murderer.” She gazed over at Thomas. “Care to tell us who it is?”

Thomas looked up, his face streaked with tears. “It was Jessica!” he shouted, pointing an accusing finger in her direction.

“What!?” Jessica appeared shocked at the accusation.

Everyone in the room seemed totally taken aback that innocent and quiet Jessica could have actually been the murderer. “How did you surmise that?” Maddie asked.

“You’re right,” he said. “I did know about the order because I had been with Ana the night before.” He started to wipe his tears. “We always met together throughout the week and Ana always loved your cookies. She would actually have me come and pick them up for her, but that night I was busy, so she called to have them delivered.”

He paused for a brief moment and looked at Maddie. “Anyway, we were talking about a problem with Jessica always getting the customer’s information wrong. Ana said that this was part of the problem with a lot of the customer complaints. So, she asked me if I thought we should get rid of her.”

“So, you were planning to fire Jessica?”

“No. No, we were just talking about it. Nothing had been decided yet.”

“So, then what happened?”

“Well, we didn’t know what to do so we simply decided to leave it be for a while. We went on to some other business matters and just before I was to leave, the doorbell rang.” He started to sob again. “It was Jessica.”

They had to wait until he got his composure together again. “Anyway, it looked like she had been drinking and I tried to talk her into going home, but she wouldn’t.” He looked up at Maddie. “I didn’t know what she was going to do, I swear.” He started to fiddle with his fingers.

“The next morning I had a bad feeling about that night so I went back to the house to check on Ana. I tried to reach her by phone, but I got her voicemail.” He paused to get his emotions in check and to try to stop the flood of tears that were flowing again. “I had a spare key to the house, so I let myself in. That’s why the door was ajar when you arrived,” he said to Maddie. “When I heard you at the front door I was afraid that you would blame me for what had happened so I ran out the back door and hid behind the cottage.”

“But you didn’t tell the police?” Michael Hale asked.

“No. The police said it was an accident so I didn’t say anything.”

“When did you realize it was Jessica and that she had murdered Ana?” questioned Maddie.

“Well, right after her death I received an email from one of the business review sites with a complaint about Ana. The email was anonymous, but it was obviously written by someone inside the company because they knew details that the average person didn’t know.”

“But that meant it could’ve been anyone who worked there.”

“Not exactly,” Thomas corrected. “This person had inside knowledge about salaries, personnel contacts, even business dealings that the average employee in the front room wouldn’t know. They even had contacts overseas that others wouldn’t have even known existed. That narrowed it down to only three or four people.”

“So, how did you narrow it down to the one person?” Maddie asked.

“Well, if I had to guess, you have the same email in your hand right now. And the answer is in the subject line.”

Maddie laid the paper down on the table and everyone leaned forward and read the subject line, “To the End of Anna’s Reign.”

Michael looked confused. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that line.”

“I do,” Maddie said, and so did Thomas. “Ana’s name is spelled with only one ‘n’, not two.”

“Well, people make spelling mistakes all the time,” Michael commented.

“But remember, this is a person who has worked alongside Ana every day for years. Who do we all know that is notorious for getting names spelled wrong? How many of you have had to correct Jessica on the spelling of your name more than once?”

Everyone’s hands slowly went up in the air. Jessica jumped from her seat and fled to the open doorway. As the guards were busy holding onto Thomas, she was able to slip by them and down the hallway. One guard went after her, while the other one still held a firm grasp on Thomas.

“So, congratulations Thomas, you were the first one to figure it out. I just have one question. Why didn’t you report her to the police when you realized it was her?”

“I thought I could use it to my advantage. So many people hated Ana, I didn’t think anyone would care if she was gone, but I figured that if there was any attempt to move Jessica into place ahead of me, that I could use that as leverage so that I would be pretty much guaranteed the top job. Jessica could be my assistant.”

The guard came running back into the room, “She…” he panted, “she…she jumped overboard.”

“That’s all right,” the Captain spoke. “I alerted the Coast Guard and they are waiting offshore to pick up any possible runaways.”

The ship’s guards pulled Thomas up to his feet. “Don’t worry about this one Captain. We’ll keep him in holding until we dock and the local police come and collect him.”

As Thomas was being pulled away, his wails could be heard all through the deck. People in their cabins were all coming out to look and see what was happening.

~~~

Once the two were removed, a round of applause broke out around the room. “That was very impressive,” Michael complimented her.

“I cannot believe you solved it,” Parker said. “You certainly had me fooled.”

“That was the plan,” Maddie explained.

The Captain encouraged everyone to drink and enjoy the rest of the evening while he went to his office to report the latest events. When he returned, he pulled Maddie aside.

“I feel it is only fair to warn you.”

“Me?”

“When you get off this boat, there will be a lot of press there asking you questions.”

“Really? It’s not me they should be talking to.”

“Well, they seem to want to ask you for more details about the…” he stopped to refer to a paper in his hands. “An Emma Larson case? They said you solved that crime, too.”

“But that was almost a year ago.  They should have forgotten about that now.”

“Whatever the case, you did a splendid job here and I hope there is a reward for your dedication to bringing justice back to the community.”

Epilogue

One Week Later

The bakery was in full swing. Once again, the news had traveled fast and spread throughout Rockcrest Cove like a windstorm. Everyone had been talking about how the case with Ana had been solved by the mild-mannered bakery woman downtown. People were coming in by the dozens to buy her goods and deliveries were becoming more of a mainstay than she had originally thought.

By afternoon, everything had begun to settle down and Maddie had a chance to sit back and catch her breath. Just before closing though the doorbells chimed announcing one more customer. She almost got up to check it out, but she thought better of it.
The girls could handle it
, so she let it go.

But soon after, Rachel came to the office. “Ms. Maddie, you have a visitor.”

Maddie sat up in her chair and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Who is it?”

“It’s Captain Evans,” Rachel replied and ushered him in.

Maddie stared at the gentleman and hardly recognized him wearing street clothes. “Thank you Rachel,” she said as she saw the young girl mouthing the word “cute” behind the captain’s back.  She gave Maddie the OK sign and a thumbs-up before she left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Captain,” Maddie said, standing up and offering her hand.

“I’m not on duty now. You can just call me Phil.”

“All right, Phil. What brings you here this afternoon?”

“Well, I have to be honest,” he said, a little embarrassed. “I don’t usually do this, but I thought that I might come by to take you to dinner.”

“Dinner!” Maddie looked surprised.

“You do eat, don’t you?”

Maddie felt a little bit flustered. “Of course, I eat,” she answered.

“Well then, I thought that if you eat and I like to eat, that tonight, we might be able to eat at the same place at the same time. What do you think? Your girls said that you were just about to close.”

Maddie gave him a genuine smile. “I think I’d like that, but I have to stop off at home first.” She pointed to her canvas bag. “I have to drop off Astoria.”

Astoria peeped her snow white, pearly head out of the bag. She had long been ready to leave the bakery and go home.

“That’s fine with me,” Phil said.

“Just let me change my shoes,” she said and sat down behind her desk. The familiar vibration of her phone told her that Bailey was calling. She held up one finger. “Excuse me,” she said and pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket.

“Hey Gran, are you about finished with work?”

“Yeah, we’re closing now.”

“I thought I’d drop by and we can go take in a movie or something.”

“Oh, I can’t tonight dear. I’ve got plans.”

“You’ve got plans? You never have plans.”

“Well, I do tonight. How about I call you tomorrow and we plan on something together?”

Bailey was dumbfounded. Her Gran had never had anything to do but work and spend time with Astoria, now she had plans? She hung up the phone and looked at her watch. “Now, what was she going to do?”

~~~

Find out what Maddie discovers in book 3 of The Rockcrest Cove Mysteries! Coming Soon!

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