Pumpkin Spice & a Body on Ice Read online

  “Well, no one really liked her,” Eva told me.

  I wasn’t aware of that. I mean she was kind of loud and obnoxious and ridiculously fit but...

  “Except maybe Tom Brown,” Anna put in.

  Eva lowered her voice. “You know the way she lifted weights and trained all the time just like the guys around here. I heard she didn’t even like men.”

  “Eva,” Anna warned.

  “Well, that’s what I heard.”

  I hadn’t heard anything like that. In fact, I realized I knew very little about Nadine’s private life. Time to do a little detecting.

  “Well, our news and the best news of the day is the town council purchased memberships for the entire police force to A Beautiful Balance,” Eva said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Roby insists that they all come in at least three times a week, and we’re overseeing their fitness schedule as the official personal trainers for the entire department.”

  “All four of them?” I asked.

  They nodded, missing my sarcasm completely, and then Eva rambled on. “We’re working very closely with Roby to make sure his police force gets fit and healthy.”

  “They’re going to need to be with a killer on the loose,” Mrs. Snyder said. “Between that and the panty bandit running around, you’d think this was Chicago.”

  I’d almost forgotten about the panty bandit. “Did someone steal your panties?” I asked.

  “My daughter’s house was broken into,” Mrs. Snyder said. “Took several pairs of her panties and a bra she’d bought to wear on her wedding anniversary date with Roy.”

  To my dismay, Anna and Eva Lord remained standing close by, listening intently while I unzipped the blue pouch and handed it over to teller.

  “You know, you should get your employees in on something like that,” Eva said, looking me up and down.

  “Like what?”

  “A fitness plan,” she answered. “We have group rates and you would probably enjoy some of the beginner classes.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said, snatching my purple sucker off of my deposit slip and heading out the door.

  Pausing at the door, I unwrapped the sucker and popped it into my mouth.

  The second thing I miscalculated that morning was running into Police Chief Whitt again. He was in the middle of his mid-morning run just as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. Quickly, I tried to back up and return to the bank, hoping he hadn’t seen me.

  I was too slow.

  “Starla, you’re usually at home by this time of day,” he said, coming to a halt in front of me.

  As chilly as it was, he was wearing an old, faded, green U.S. Army t-shirt and black shorts. And even drenched in sweat with his thick, unruly hair curling over his forehead, he was absolutely gorgeous.

  “Got a late start today,” I said, as if I had to remind him why I was delayed that morning. Then I remembered the sucker in my hand and put it behind my back.

  Struggling to control his breathing, he bent over and put both hands on his knees. “You’re usually up in your window.”

  “Yeah, well...” I stammered. I had no idea he had seen me up in my window watching the show. I reminded myself that I needed to buy blinds or curtains or something.

  “Why don’t you come with me tomorrow?”

  “With you?” I asked, trying to get my thoughts back on track.

  “Yeah, let’s meet by the fountain in the park and run along the path. It’s real pretty this time of year, with the leaves turning and all,” he added.

  “Well, I, um...” I stammered, fighting for an excuse. “Aren’t you busy with, you know, the investigation and all?”

  “That’s when I do my best thinking,” he told me, checking his watch.

  “Wouldn’t it be bad for you to be seen running with a suspect?”

  He laughed. “You’re not a suspect yet. Just a person of interest. You and Poppy both.”

  That wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

  “How about eleven o’clock tomorrow?” he suggested.

  “Well,” I began and then I realized that he might tell me something about the murder investigation that I could use.

  “I promise to take it easy on you,” he added with a grin.

  Just then Winnie and Julie returned to their car, which was parked in its usual place near the bank. They both waved at us and then climbed into the car and drove away. I couldn’t get over how they looked so happy and healthy and, dare I say it, glowing.

  Chief Whitt.” It was Anna Lord cleaning the front door of A Beautiful Balance.

  I wondered if they cleaned it that much just to show off their trim, graceful physiques.

  “Hatha Yoga tonight at seven-thirty,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, giving her a two fingered salute.

  “We want you to try out our newest kitchen creation while you’re here. We haven’t given them a name yet but they’re spinach cupcakes made with soy flour and topped with fat free cream cheese frosting.”

  “Sounds great!”

  Anna shot a triumphant glare at me and I wondered if the two sisters could have somehow overpowered Nadine and...

  “So is it a date?”

  “Huh?”

  “Tomorrow. Jogging at eleven?”

  “Yeah. Yeah sure,” I stammered. “I’ll be there.”

  “Good. I’m looking forward to it,” he said and trotted off. The muscles in his long legs were as defined as the ones in his upper body.

  Anna had already gone back inside her studio, probably to meditate or something.

  Putting my sucker back into my mouth, I hurried back to the diner. My car keys were right where I’d left them hanging on the peg by the door just inside my apartment. I was going to have to buy something to wear when I went on my running date with the police chief the next day, and that included new shoes. And I wasn’t about to buy anything here in town. The word that Starla Cupp was buying workout clothes and running shoes would be out before I swiped my charge card.

  I bounded back down the steps, wondering if there was still a way out of this. What if I told him I sprained my ankle on the steps? No, then I’d have to pretend to limp when I saw him. What if I told him I was sick? More pretending, and I’m not good at pretending. Then I reminded myself that he might have some inside information about Nadine’s murder.

  “Hey, can we talk?” It was Poppy and she was standing just outside the office door.

  I had already pushed the back door open and had one foot outside, heading for my car parked out back.

  “Can it wait?” I asked. “I have an errand to run.”

  “Not really,” Poppy said, shifting from foot to foot nervously.

  I let the door close and followed her into the office.

  She took a seat on the folding chair on the opposite side of the desk, shuffled papers, stacked them neatly and put them in a folder. But she continued to look stressed.

  “What’s up?” I finally asked.

  “I want to apologize for yesterday,” she said at long last.

  “Apologize?”

  “Yeah, for the things I said to you yesterday. You’re not a coward or a quitter or any of those things and it was mean of me to say so.” Poppy finished with tears in her eyes.

  “Apology accepted,” I said.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Really. Now give me a hug, I’ve got to go,” I said with a smile.

  Poppy hopped up and ran around the desk. She hugged me tightly. “Where are you going with your car keys?”

  “I have to go, um, buy something,” I stammered.

  Poppy gave me a questioning look.

  My shoulders sagged. There was no way I could keep a secret from her. Never had been able to, even when we were kids.

  “I’m going running with Chief Whitt in the morning at eleven. I need something to wear and,” I looked down at my grungy sneakers, “I need new shoes.”

  “And if you bought
them here in town, everyone would be talking,” she guessed.

  I nodded.

  “So you’re really going to go running with him?” she giggled. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and she caught my hands in hers.

  “I’m going to try,” I confessed, feeling a little jolt of excitement myself. Whether it came from Poppy or the fact that Chief Roby Whitt had invited me out on his version of a date, I couldn’t be sure. “He said he would take it easy.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Poppy assured me, squeezing my fingers. “I’ve seen you move around this diner, light on your feet and quick as lightning.”

  I shrugged. “We’ll see. Also, I was thinking he might let slip some inside information about the murder.”

  “I doubt that but you never know.” Poppy laughed. “I hope this means he no longer thinks we’re suspects.”

  “Persons of interest, is how he described it to me,” I said.

  “And Tom?”

  “I didn’t ask. I’m sorry,” I said, seeing her eyes fill with tears.

  “It’s okay.”

  “Hey, have you heard about this panty bandit stealing panties from homes around town?” I asked, suddenly realizing we hadn’t talked about that.

  “I heard something about it, but all of mine are intact,” she said.

  “Mine, too. Oh, I did overhear something this morning at the bank,” I told her.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, it seems that a lot of people, especially women in town, didn’t like Nadine.”

  “That was no secret.”

  “The Lord sisters seemed to think she preferred women to men,” I added.

  Poppy looked skeptical.

  “It’s just rumor and innuendo. They really had no proof, but that reminded me that we know very little about Nadine’s private life. Maybe we should do some snooping around,” I said.

  “I’ll keep my ears open to see if I can pick up any gossip,” Poppy said with a laugh. Then she sobered. “I was so afraid you were mad at me.”

  “Can’t get mad at my best friend,” I told her. “Especially when she’s right.”

  “Right?”

  “Yeah, just thinking about quitting was a dumb idea.”

  Poppy nodded and finally released my hands.

  “Right now, I have to go get something to wear on my running date tomorrow. And when I get back. I have some research to do.”

  “Those amateurs don’t stand a chance,” Poppy all but squealed.

  I’m sure I looked skeptical.

  “They might know yoga or how to work three muscle groups at once or how to make a protein shake but no one knows their way around cupcakes like you, Starla,” Poppy said confidently.

  Now I laughed. “If I survive tomorrow’s run with Chief Whitt,” I reminded her.

  It occurred to me that I could probably just call him Roby like everyone else in town seemed to be doing lately but that seemed a little too familiar.

  “Have fun,” Poppy said and waved as I left the diner.

  Figuring the new sporting goods store about twenty miles outside of Sugar Hill would be far enough away, that’s where I headed. To my surprise, finding workout clothes that fit wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Some of them showed off a little too much top. Some of them accentuated my bottom a little bit too much. But I finally settled on an outfit that wasn’t too loose or too tight and then, impulsively bought three more all in different bright, vibrant colors.

  Shoes were a different matter but the sales clerk helped me and when I went to pay for them, almost fainted at the cost.

  “Your health is worth it,” the young, pimply faced boy told me at the counter. “My grandma started running a year ago and now she’s doing 5Ks and half-marathons.”

  I didn’t know what a 5K or a half-marathon was but I did know that I was not his grandmother’s age. Smiling my thanks I turned from the counter and ran smack into Tiffany Samples.

  “Well, look who’s buying running shoes,” she said a little too loudly.

  “Yeah, well...”

  “I’m telling you, Roby’s health and fitness influence is sweeping the county,” she announced.

  “Thought I’d give it a try...”

  “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well for Nadine,” she added.

  “That was unfortunate,” I said, inching toward the door.

  “You made sure it was one less person to compete against you at the dessert festival,” she put in. “Or was it Poppy?”

  I was stunned. Did people really think we would kill for that blue ribbon?

  “You can’t kill all of us, though,” Tiffany laughed, cackled really. “And you definitely can’t win if you’re behind bars.”

  I turned and ran. Simply ran from the store. I was shaking with anger by the time I reached my car and did not stop shaking until I was tucked safely away in my apartment. If she continued spreading talk like that, it was going to reflect badly on the diner.

  Now, besides researching how to make healthy cupcakes, I had a murder to solve...and I had to do it soon.

  Chapter Eight

  That night I dreamed of running. Police Chief Roby Whitt and I were at the beach running side by side, a beautiful sunset painting the sky pink and purple and orange. He turned to say something to me and I tripped and fell.

  “Darling,” I heard him exclaim as he dropped to his knees in the sand and cradled me in his arms.

  As I moved to my knees in front of him, he brushed my hair back off of my face with tender fingers. We looked deep into each other’s eyes and then his lips touched mine...

  “Don’t forget your yoga class tonight,” Eva Lord reminded him.

  She had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, standing right beside us.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, jumping to his feet so quickly that he knocked me over.

  “We’ll work on that training program for the whole police force,” Anna shouted from where she stood ankle deep in the water. Funny, both of them were mermaids.

  “Don’t forget your organic bread,” Tiffany called out from her health food store that opened right onto the beach.

  Further down the beach, I could see Poppy and Nadine struggling over something. It looked like something heavy and they were dragging it out of the water. I didn’t realize what it was until they dropped it on the sand and then Nadine’s wild laughter reached my ears.

  It was Tom Brown’s body and Poppy fell across it sobbing loudly.

  That’s when I realized that Chief Whitt was in uniform. Looking down, I saw that I was in a bikini and that’s when everyone else noticed it too. I awoke in a cold sweat with the echo of their laughter in my ears.

  I lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling for the longest time. What was I thinking, saying I would go running with our very fit, very handsome police chief? The only thing I was going to accomplish was making a fool out of myself. Yet, the only thing that kept me from backing out was thinking he might reveal something about the murder.

  But the next morning, as I watched him interact with the mayor as well as the other patrons, the dream was the farthest thing from my mind. And when he very softly reminded me of our ‘date’, I assured him I would be waiting.

  The morning air was cool and I was glad I’d taken the salesclerk’s advice and purchased a lightweight jacket to wear. Purple to match my new shoes. I paced back and forth in front of the fountain. My shoes fit well and felt amazing, almost as if they were injecting energy into my legs.

  I watched some other runners as they stretched and prepared for their workout. Thank goodness I didn’t know any of them. When they were gone I mimicked their movements. I was bent over, trying to touch my toes, when Chief Roby Whitt came up behind me.

  “Lookin’ good,” he said, jogging in place for a moment.

  This was the last position I wanted him to see me in! I stood up so quickly I made myself dizzy. I held onto the nearby fountain and forced a smile.

  “New shoes?”
he asked.

  “Yes, I thought I deserved new pair,” I told him.

  “Best investment you’ll ever make,” he said, still jogging in place. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” I said, sounding way more confident than I felt.

  And off we went.

  Once we got started, I had second thoughts. I don’t think I’d run anywhere since I was a child and that was when I was racing for the ice cream truck that frequented our neighborhood. Also, there was that one time in high school when I thought I wanted to run track because of some cute guy. And my parents were just sure I could get a scholarship to UVA if I was proficient at some sport.

  I failed miserably at both, but this time it felt different. I trotted along beside the big man, keeping up with him pretty well, if I do say so myself. The longer we ran along the leaf strewn paths, the stronger and more confident I felt.

  “Ready for a sprint?” he asked, glancing over at me with a grin.

  “Okay,” I said, not realizing what a sprint was.

  He shot out in front of me, his legs pumping rapidly until he disappeared around a bend in the path. Two or three other runners skirted around me standing there in the middle of the path struggling to catch my breath and kept going.

  “Here goes,” I said to myself and ran as hard as I could to catch up with Chief Whitt.

  “I thought I’d lost you there for a minute,” he said when I fell in beside him.

  “Nah, um, my shoe came untied,” I lied.

  “Double knots,” he said, having no trouble talking at all.

  “Huh?”

  “Tie your shoes in double knots. They won’t come untied,” he explained.

  “Oh.”

  The path sloped upward and I was sure he could take the incline twice as fast as he did but Chief Whitt slowed to allow me to keep up with him. I was grateful for that. I was also gasping for air and drenched in sweat, but I hung in there.

  “So, have you made any headway in the investigation?” I asked when we reached the top and he paused to do some additional stretching.

  “Some,” he answered.

  “Well, it wasn’t some random stranger,” I said, looking for some place to sit down. There wasn’t one and I wondered if the diner should spring for some benches to be added to the park trails.