A Sprinkle of Magic (A Sugarcomb Lake Cozy Mystery Book 4) (14 page)

“Guess what I did today?” Clarissa asked Parker when he arrived at her house that evening.

“Hello to you too,” Parker joked. 

“Yes, hi,” Clarissa said impatiently.  “Guess what I did today?!”

“What, no kiss?” he asked, feigning disappointment.

“Oops!  Yes, you get a kiss.”  Clarissa stopped pestering her boyfriend long enough to give him an affectionate smooch hello.  Then, the second the kiss was over, she resumed her harassment.

“Parker, guess what I did today!”

“You terrorized a young boy,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What?  How did you know?” Clarissa sputtered in surprise.

Parker grinned.  “When I got into town I stopped to fill up with gas.  I overheard a couple ladies talking at the gas station.  I guess you’re right that people tend to talk a lot in small towns.”

“You have no idea.”

“So?  Did it feel good to cause a child lifelong mental scars?” Parker teased.

“Hey, don’t say that!  The kid lies and steals!  He’s been going joyriding in someone else’s vehicle!  What I did was completely fair, and he totally had it coming,” Clarissa insisted, crossing her arms defiantly.

“Based on what I know, turning him over to the cops would have been kinder than turning him over to Barbara Norman,” Parker mused.  Then, upon seeing Clarissa’s pout of displeasure, he added, “I’m only teasing you.  I think what you did was awesome.  Good for you!”

He paused then and looked around in confusion.

“What’s the matter?” Clarissa asked.

“Nothing,” he replied.  “It’s just…usually by now your cat is wound around my leg.”

“Oh, right.  Well the cat isn’t speaking to me,” Clarissa blurted out without thinking.

Parker smirked.

Immediately, Clarissa realized how stupid that had sounded.  Technically it was true, but of course Parker didn’t know the cat actually
could
talk.  Thinking fast, Clarissa added, “I mean, the cat has been acting like I don’t even exist.”

“Ah, I see.  Should I even ask?”

She shrugged.  “I scolded it.  The little brat had it coming.  It’s currently sulking under the bed because I disciplined it for scratching up my doorframes.  I’ve been dishing out tough love to everyone lately.”

“Should I be worried?” Parker joked.

“Only if you plan on misbehaving,” she shot back.

“Well I wasn’t planning to scratch up your doorframes, but…you say if I do I’ll get tough love?  That sounds tempting.  I’ll take whatever I can get from you,” Parker winked.

Every fiber of Clarissa’s being was screaming at her to tell her boyfriend she loved him.  They were just three little words.  On the surface, it seemed like no big deal.  But it was A Very Big Deal.  Funny how three simple words could be so complicated…

“Clarissa?” Parker asked.  “Are you still with me?”

She blinked.  “Yes!” she said brightly. 

“Ah good,” he grinned.  “For a second there I thought you were a million miles away.  So what’s our plan for tonight?  Do you feel like going out or staying in?”

“I actually ordered us a pizza a few minutes before you got here, so it should be here soon.”

“Perfect!” Parker exclaimed, licking his lips.  “Pizza is the best. 
You’re
the best.”

“I’m not sure I am,” Clarissa admitted.  “I nearly got arrested today.”

Parker’s eyebrows shot up.  “Dare I ask?”

Clarissa pursed her lips.  “I found out where Al Moreno lived.  He bought a very nice, very expensive condo over in that new area at the edge of town.  So I went over there to see if his neighbors could tell me anything about him.”

“And…?” Parker pressed, listening intently. 

“It was a waste of time,” she sighed.  “The guy across the hall said Al was rarely home and when he
was
there, he kept to himself.  And the woman downstairs said the only time she saw Al, he was heading out for a fishing trip.”

“Okay, but what’s this about getting arrested?” Parker demanded.

“Oh, that.  I was
almost
arrested,” Clarissa corrected him.

“And what were you
almost
arrested for?  Were you harassing Al’s neighbors?”

She made a face.  “Al’s condo was on the second floor, so I kind of…climbed up onto the balcony.  I just meant to peer through the windows.  But the door was unlocked, so I sort of let myself inside.”

“You broke into a dead man’s condo?!”

“Don’t say it like that!” Clarissa said defensively.

“Well what happened?”

“The condo was empty,” she grumbled.  “Al’s daughter is trying to sell it.  All the furniture and personal effects had been cleared out.  Oh, and then somebody who knew the unit is empty saw the light on.  That was why the police were called.”

“Oh Clarissa,” Parker sighed, shaking his head.

“Sam Swanson responded to the call,” Clarissa said dismissively.  “When he got there and saw it was me inside he…well, he wasn’t
happy
…but he agreed to let me off with a warning.  So it was no big deal.”

“Clarissa!” Parker laughed.  “You’re going to get arrested for real one of these days!”

“That’s what Sam said.”

“Poor Sam,” Parker chuckled.  “You really test his patience, don’t you?”

“He’ll be singing a different tune when I figure out who killed Al,” she insisted.

“I hope you’re right,” Parker replied.  Then, in an effort to be supportive, he corrected himself.  “I’m sure you’re right.  Just promise that you’ll be careful, okay?  I don’t want you getting hurt…or arrested.”

“I’m always careful,” Clarissa assured him cheerfully. 

It was a good thing Parker didn’t know about her shenanigans with her broomstick.  The poor guy would have had a heart attack if he knew she had been flying way up above rooftops in hot pursuit of a teenaged hooligan!

Parker knew better than to argue with Clarissa.

Instead, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

“Let’s sit down,” she suggested. 

“Okay,” Parker agreed, following her over to the couch.

“How was your day?” Clarissa asked as she took a seat.

Parker sat down beside her and slung his arm around her shoulder.  “Don’t ask,” he groaned.

“That bad, hmm?” she murmured sympathetically.

“Worse.”

She cringed.  “Let me guess:  your father?”

“What else?” Parker replied.  “My job would be so much easier and so much more enjoyable if he’d trust me to do it.  But the constant hovering and lecturing and criticizing is making me hate every second of being at the office.  That’s a problem when I spend so much of my time there!”

“I’m sorry,” Clarissa sighed.  “I wish I knew how to help.”

“You’re helping,” he assured her.  “Talking helps.  Thanks for listening to me vent.”

“Any time,” she smiled.  She got up and walked around to the back of the couch.

“What are you doing?” Parker asked curiously.             

“You seem tense,” she replied.  “Would you like me to massage your shoulders?”

A grin broke out across Parker’s handsome face.  “Have I ever told you how amazing you are?” he told her appreciatively.  “I have the best girlfriend in the entire world!  I would gladly suffer through a million years of working for my father if it meant keeping you.”

“You don’t have to, though.  I’ll be here no matter what,” Clarissa vowed.  “You could quit.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Parker chuckled. 

“Isn’t it?” she asked innocently.

“Believe me, it isn’t easy at all.  It’s complicated.  My father
loves
blackmail.  Emotional blackmail, financial blackmail, you name it.  He’s made no secret of the fact that he will disown me, cut me off and write me out of his will if I don’t cater to his every whim.”

Clarissa made a face.  “That’s terrible,” she said, though it really wasn’t surprising. 

“My father is like some sort of tyrannical supervillain,” Parker joked.  But neither he nor Clarissa laughed at the observation.  It hit far too close to home for either one of them to find the comment humorous.

“I know it’s not my place…” Clarissa began hesitantly before trailing off. 

“No, say it,” Parker urged.  “I want to know what you think.  Whatever it is, tell me.”

“Well it’s just…is it worth it to have this kind of stress in your life?  You hate your job, you’re miserable and your relationship with your father is awful.  At some point, maybe you need to take a stand,” Clarissa told him tentatively.

“What kind of stand do you have in mind?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” Clarissa admitted.  “I don’t have any answers.  But right now your father thinks he can call all the shots.  Maybe you need to put your foot down,” she suggested.  “Call his bluff.  Maybe he’s making empty threats to try to make you bend to his will.”

“My father doesn’t make empty threats,” Parker assured her.  “But you’re right about everything, as usual.  Money isn’t everything.  And honestly, my relationship with my father is probably beyond repair.  He’s a broken, angry man.”

“Well just know that whatever you do, I’ll support you,” Clarissa said.

She meant it…but even as she said the words, her mind was somewhere else.  Something she’d said had made alarm bells sound off inside the recesses of her brain.  Now she was struggling to figure out what was bothering her.

Parker was still talking, but Clarissa was basically oblivious. 

Something was nagging at her.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was on the cusp of something big.

Suddenly she jumped to her feet.

Parker looked up at her in confusion.  “Clarissa?” he asked.  “Is everything okay?”

“I think I know who killed Al Moreno!” she gasped, racing toward the door.  “I have to go!”

“Slow down!” Parker called, chasing after Clarissa.

She ignored him.  She also ignored Cat, who appeared out of nowhere and went charging out of the house toward the woods.  There was no time to spare. 

Now that the truth had hit her, she felt so foolish!  Why hadn’t she seen it earlier?  The writing was on the wall, and yet she had been blind to it.  All she could do now was drive like a maniac and hope that she wasn’t too late.

“Clarissa, wait!” Parker exclaimed as she dove into her car and stuck the key in the ignition.

“No time!” she told him breathlessly.

“Well then at least unlock the passenger side of the car!” he replied.  “I’m coming with you.”

Clarissa obliged.  No sooner than Parker was seated next to her, she slammed the car into reverse and backed out of her driveway.  She went screeching down the street towards the heart of Sugarcomb Lake.

“You’re going to get us killed!” Parker protested as she took one corner a bit too sharply.

“Hold on,” she said through gritted teeth, her eyes glued to the road.

“Where are we going?” Parker asked.

Clarissa didn’t reply.  She couldn’t.  She was too busy making sure the car stayed on the road.

“Clarissa?” he pressed.  “You said you know who the killer is?”

At that moment, Clarissa narrowly avoided hitting a trash can that had been set out at the side of the street.  She swerved, almost collided with a white picket fence and then somehow managed to get the car back in its proper lane. 

Thankfully, they were in Sugarcomb Lake. 

That meant no one was around to witness the close call.

Once the near-crisis had been averted, Clarissa opened her mouth to say something.

“Don’t!” Parker ordered, looking pale-faced and afraid.  “Don’t talk.  Don’t get distracted.  Whatever you do, just don’t get us killed!”

“I wasn’t planning to,” she retorted. 

Suddenly they stopped with a screech right outside the house where Patricia and Joe Porter lived.

Clarissa and Parker got out of her car.  He looked around, taking in their surroundings.  His gaze fell on the quaint little mailbox at the end of the Porters’ driveway.  It had their name on the front of it.  Parker’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. 

“You think Patricia Porter killed Al Moreno?” he asked in confusion.  “I know she’s a little unhinged but Clarissa, are you sure…”

“No,” Clarissa said quietly. 

She jerked her head in the direction of the house across the street…the one with the red door.

Parker stared at her blankly.  Then the truth dawned on him. 

“You think Jo Moreno murdered her own father?”  He looked horrified.

Clarissa nodded grimly.  “All the signs are there.  I should have caught them earlier.  I just hope we can catch Jo,” she said, rushing across the street.  “She’s moving out.  Well,
she
says she’s moving out.  I say she’s fleeing town.”

Parker stopped in his tracks, right there in the middle of the street.

He reached out and caught Clarissa by the elbow, effectively stopping her.

“Wait a second,” he said.

She turned to look at him, impatient.  “What is it?”

“Clarissa,” he said solemnly.  “You know I trust your judgment.  You’re an amazing reporter and the best detective I’ve ever met.  But accusing someone of killing her own father is a really big deal.  What if you’re wrong?”

She bit her lower lip.  She saw his point.  It was a good one.  If she mistakenly accused a grieving woman of murdering her own father, Clarissa would be the lowest of the low.  She would be one of those sensationalistic, reckless so-called reporters she despised.

Doubt began to creep in. 

Clarissa took Parker’s hand and led him the rest of the way across the street.  There, they hid behind the same hedge she and Liana had sought refuge behind the day Vinnie had turned up unannounced at Jo’s house.

“Okay, let’s talk this through,” Clarissa whispered.

“Alright,” Parker agreed. 

“Al Moreno was a jerk.  Pretty much everyone says so.  I think there was a power struggle between him and Jo.  He wanted her to run his business.  Well, he wanted her to do all the heavy lifting.  But he wanted to call the shots,” Clarissa explained.  “I talked to a handyman who did some work at the donut shop.  It sounded as though Al liked to undermine Jo’s decisions.”

“Okay, I see where there might be a motive,” Parker agreed.  “Either Jo planned to kill her father or, in a fit of frustration, she made a split second decision to run him down.  But is that compelling enough evidence to run in there and accuse her of murder?”

“It isn’t.  But there’s more,” Clarissa replied.  “Jo was at the donut shop when her father died.  Liana and I were there too.  We tried to be helpful – we offered to unload paint from her car.  She shooed us away.  In fact, she acted weird.”

“How do you mean?”

“She seemed flustered,” Clarissa recalled.  “She said she had forgotten the paint at the store.  I think she was lying about buying paint in the first place.”

“She was trying to invent an alibi?” Parker theorized.

“Yes.  And she sped out of that parking lot at lightning speed,” Clarissa recalled.  “At first I thought she was just frazzled from trying to get the donut shop ready in time for the grand opening.  But in retrospect, I think she was trying to get me and Liana to leave.”

“You think her father’s body was lying there in the alley?” Parker asked, furrowing his brow.  “Jo was trying to prevent the two of you from finding it?”

“That’s exactly what I think,” Clarissa confirmed.  “And now Jo is in a hurry to wrap up her father’s affairs, sell everything off and flee town.  She thinks she’s in the clear.  She thinks she’s about to get away with murder.”

Parker tipped his head to the side as he considered all that Clarissa had said.

“Well?” she prompted.  “Do you think I’m crazy?”

“No,” he said.  “I think you’re brilliant.  And I think you’re right.  I’m going to call the pol –”

Clarissa didn’t even give Parker a chance to finish his sentence.  As soon as he validated her suspicions about Jo, she took off like a rocket.  She sprinted across the neighbor’s lawn and over to the killer’s house, ignoring her boyfriend’s calls for her to come back.

There was a sign that said “for sale” at the edge of Jo’s lawn.  There was no car in the driveway.  The blinds in the windows were all drawn.  For a moment, Clarissa was afraid she was too late.  Maybe Jo had already skipped town, never to be heard from again.

Then Clarissa spotted a single light on in an upstairs window.

She felt a flicker of hope.

She rang the doorbell.  Then she waited.

There was no answer.

As seconds turned to minutes, it became increasingly apparent that whoever was inside had no intention of coming to the door.  And when the upstairs light went off, Clarissa knew she had to act fast.

She raced around to the back of the house.

By then, Parker had caught up to her.

“Is she home?” he asked breathlessly.  Clearly he hadn’t seen the light on upstairs.

Clarissa hesitated. 

She didn’t want to lie to her boyfriend.  She didn’t like to lie ever, but
especially
not to Parker. 

Then again, if she told the truth she knew exactly what her overprotective, cautious, logical boyfriend would say.  He would insist she wait for the police to show up…and by then, it might be too late.

Parker was a very good man.  He cared about Clarissa a great deal.  That was evident from his actions – and from his concern for her safety.  He would gladly let a killer go free as long as it meant Clarissa remained unharmed.  It was sweet…and it was exactly why Clarissa had to tell a little white lie.

“Nobody came to the door,” she said, deliberately failing to mention the upstairs light.  “Can you go across the street and get Joe Porter please?”

“Okay…what for?” Parker asked.

“Security,” she replied, even though she wasn’t sure the older gentleman would provide much security.  She didn’t have time to come up with a better explanation.  She had to catch up with Jo before the killer escaped into the night!

“Where are you going?” Parker asked as Clarissa turned to walk away.

“Um…lady issues,” she replied, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

Her sweet, kind, oblivious boyfriend didn’t seem to know how to respond.  He opened his mouth and then promptly shut it again.  He scratched his head.  Then he stuttered, “I uh, do um…do you…er, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Go get Joe Porter,” Clarissa reiterated.  Then she crossed her fingers behind her back and continued, “I have an old school friend who lives on this street.  I’m uh….I’m going to stop by her place and see if she can help me out.”

Clarissa wasn’t the world’s best liar.  But Parker probably mistook her stumbling for embarrassment.  He certainly looked plenty mortified himself!  It was laughable how such an accomplished, clever, professional man could be reduced to a red-faced, stuttering buffoon at the mere mention of lady issues!

Clarissa pretended to walk down the street.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Parker racing toward the Porter house.

Moving quickly, she doubled back and made a beeline for Jo Moreno’s place. 

There was no time to waste.

She circled around to the back of the house.  There, parked in the alley, was Jo Moreno’s black four door sedan.  It was loaded up with boxes.  Clearly she was in the process of moving her things out of the house.

Clarissa tried the gate into the backyard, but found it locked.

Undeterred, she hopped over the fence, albeit with some difficulty.  Actually, she rather clumsily fell over the fence rather than hopping over it.  She wished she had her broom with her.  That would have made things a lot easier!

Clarissa stood up and brushed the dirt off her knees.  Then she ran to the back door.

It was unlocked.

Quietly, she slipped inside.

She wasn’t sure what her plan was, exactly.  All she knew was that she needed to stop Jo from leaving.  All she really had to do was stall her until the police arrived.  That shouldn’t be too hard, or too dangerous.  Maybe she could simply –

“What are you doing here?” Jo’s voice said icily, cutting into her thoughts.

Clarissa gasped in alarm and spun around, her heart pounding.

Jo was standing at the top of the stairs – and she didn’t look happy.