Sweet Taffy and Murder: Sweet Taffy Cozy Mysteries Book #1 (21 page)

Standing on the steps of the police station, Taffy was dumbfounded.

“That’s part of the history of your name. Your mother’s love of saltwater taffy, her happy youthful memories of this place, the visits to the candy factory. This little town is where your father and mother met, you know. Back when Dillon was a nobody in a Seattle grunge band, before his star had risen, and then disastrously imploded.”

“Where is he now? Where did you send him?”

Nana gave a secret smile. But before she could answer, a utility truck pulled up at the curb.

Bill Doucet got out. He looked straight at Taffy.

“Where’s the cat’s collar?”

“What? Bill, where have you been? What’s been going on?”

“The cat collar—where is it?”

“In my purse. Why?”

“There’s a charm on it. All of Janet’s evidence is copied and stored in a mini sd in that charm. She told me before she died.”

Ethan stared at Bill. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“That cop killed Janet and Randall. I needed to lay low, or he’d come for me next. He’d once threatened me with my old rap sheet. Said I’d never be a credible witness for anything, but I saw him twice at the house. Once the night Janet died and last night, when Taffy was taken.”

“You
were
there!”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you then. I was in the basement. It all happened so fast. I saw him drag you out to the car. Someone else was driving.”

“It was Ellie.”

Bill nodded, and then he turned to leave.

“Wait, Bill,” Maria said. “You’re an eyewitness. We’ll need your statement.”

“I just gave it.”

“An official one, Do you mind coming into the station for few minutes?”

He shrugged and said, “I just thought I should get the cat out of the car.”

Taffy’s eyes widened. “Midnight? You have Midnight?”

“I took him in the cat carrier last night. To keep him safe.”

Taffy threw her arms around Bill’s neck. “Thank you!”

Bill tried to back off from the intense embrace. He was blushing deeply. He cleared his throat.

“Janet would have wanted you to have him.”

Two and a half months later.

“I have never once, not once, in my entire seventy-five years on this planet, spent a birthday in a roadside bar,” Nana said.

Rosa raised her wine glass. “Then it’s time to shake that tush-tosh of yours.”

Nana let her cashmere wrap slip off her shoulder as she smiled warmly and clinked glasses with her old friend. She tapped her manicured nails to the beat of the music and couldn’t help bouncing a bit in her seat.

Taffy and Maria had rented out the entire karaoke bar. It was full of friends, friends of friends, and family.

Dillon Archer had driven down from Seattle with his recently reunited band to perform at the party.

Ellie had needed a full day to be a blubbering fool when Taffy told her the Sons of Insanity were coming to town to play a private party to celebrate her grandmother’s seventy-fifth birthday.

Once Ellie had dried her tears of joy, she kicked into high gear to help organize the party, only taking breaks to go to her counseling sessions for her kleptomania and serve her community service sentence. She’d been able to provide more incriminating evidence linking Gravely and Austin to various shady deals in town and so had been let off easily. She was determined to kick her bad habits, including her poor taste in men. And Taffy had encouraged her to take management training classes so that she could help out more at the candy factory.

Nana, Atticus Mitchell, and Taffy had decided to salvage the factory. Pulling it back from the brink of bankruptcy hadn’t been easy, as only some of the embezzlement money was recovered. Herbert and Gillian were paying off the rest of their debt to society at one of the state’s light-security correctional institutions. Gravely was being held in the state penitentiary until his trial.

Very recently, Ethan had heard from one of his FBI buddies. They were closing in on Austin. A particular painting, the stormy sunset Taffy had viewed at Austin’s house and had described in detail to Ethan, had come up at auction in Atlanta, Georgia, and was looking like it was going to lead right to Austin. Once they had him in custody, they’d be able to use Janet’s information, pulled from the chip in Midnight’s collar, to indict Umberto Secca. Ethan kept Taffy secretly apprised of these goings on, but Maria had to wait to hear the news through proper police channels.

During the internal investigation of the local police force, Chief Green had offered to resign, but the town would have none of it. He took a short leave, had a nice holiday with his wife, and when he returned, he gave Maria a promotion.

Almost immediately, Lionel Davenport and his real estate wife moved away to Nebraska, leaving the town between law offices for almost two months, but now a nice young man, Finn Talbot, had hung his shingle across from the town hall, and Taffy was eyeing him as potential date material for Maria. Rosa was on board, but so far Maria was oblivious to their matchmaking plans.

Taffy had convinced Maria to wear the clingy purple dress to the party. They’d had to send it to a dry cleaner’s in Portland to get the gas smell out, but now it was as good as new. And Maria rocked it with her curves. So when Finn Talbot walked in—Taffy had made a point of inviting him when she’d gone in to hire him to take care of some legal paperwork for the factory—Maria was just strutting on stage to sing a karaoke tune while the band took a break.

Taffy caught Rosa’s eye and winked. She mouthed the words, “Perfect timing,” while she stood at the bar waiting for Ted, the bartender, to pour out a few pints and shots for her table. Without spilling a drop he set all the glasses on a tray and asked, “How’s the renovation going?”

Taffy smiled. “Nearly done. Ethan’s been so helpful.”

“Yeah, but he’s behind on my batch delivery.” Ted winked at her.

Ethan had been helping Taffy to lovingly restore Janet’s old house, and they were putting in a suite for Nana for her visits, which were getting longer and longer.

Taffy had sublet an apartment on Main Street during the house renovations. Midnight wasn’t a happy cat about it, but it was just a temporary situation. Ethan had offered to put her up, as a friend, but to Taffy it made sense to take things slow with him. Plus the two bedroom apartment had room for Nana to stay when she flew out from New York to help oversee the new setup for the candy factory. She’d thought Taffy was crazy for hiring Ellie as a manager, but Taffy knew Ellie needed a second chance and had faith that she would grow into the responsibility. And Taffy would be there to help.

With the support of Mayor Gifford, Ethan took over the lease on the coffee shop, which he renamed The Magpie Brewing Company, in honor of Janet. It was quickly gaining a reputation as being the best little coffee shop in the state.

In a few more weeks, Janet’s house—Taffy still had a hard time thinking of it as hers—would be move-in ready. The fact that Janet had died there no longer bothered Taffy. Right after catching Gravely, when Taffy still thought she should go back to New York, she kept good to her agreement of offering to sell Janet’s house to Ethan. He was the one who suggested they renovate it together, and then see how she felt about it after. Taffy was pleased to have finally learned to do small plumbing repairs and even minor electrical tasks.

Dillon Archer, on a set break, joined Taffy at her table.

Taffy’s father was a changed man. Relaxed, confident, and avowed to date within a new mature age range, and no more musicians.

“I’m kind of enjoying life on the flip side,” he said. “I hadn’t realized how much of a sweet, real life I’d been missing.”

“Me neither.” Taffy had been blindingly surprised to discover she actually enjoyed renovating old houses and learning how to run a business.

Dillon leaned in close and said, “Your mom left holes in all our hearts, but we’re the ones who’ve kept those spaces empty all this time. Filling them up doesn’t take away our love for her, it makes that love stronger, more connected to the present than the past.”

They agreed to share their fond memories of Ellen Belair and of Taffy’s childhood, and they promised each other to love the family they had left.

Maria sat down after she finished singing, and Ethan went up and sang a cheesy rendition of “Sugar, Sugar,” goofily pointing at Taffy every time he said, “You are my candy girl.” Everyone laughed.

Maria slammed back one of the shots Taffy had brought to the table.

“Maria!” admonished her mother.

“Mama, stop. It’s a day to celebrate.” She leaned over to Taffy. “And I saw a cute guy walk in. I might need some liquid confidence.”

Taffy grinned. “Here, have another.”

But Maria just smiled and waved it away. “One’s enough.” Then she rested her elbows on the table and looked at Taffy. “So I guess I called it right, didn’t I?”

Taffy raised an eyebrow.

Maria held up three fingers. “You’re settling here for good. You’re fixing up Janet’s old house—”

“And now you’re worried I might harass you about future cases?”

Maria shrugged. “Now that I’m officially a detective, I might need a little friendly advice now and again.” She winked.

“At your service, Detective Salinas.”

Taffy looked around at the crowded bar. Aubin was sitting on her husband’s lap. Clint and Nolan were chatting with Ellie and the ambulance medic, Pete. The chief and his wife had just walked in. Lula and Janice were smiling as they sipped spritzers in the corner and pointed to different people in the bar. The young lawyer, Finn, was introducing himself to Ethan as he stepped off the stage, and it looked like they were about to head back to Taffy’s table. Maria reached for another shot as Rosa
tsk
ed.

Taffy’s heart warmed as she realized, really for the first time, that she belonged here, with these people, in this place. The feeling didn’t come from certainty or knowing. It came from a kind of not knowing, from an unraveling of the mystery of living that was hers to discover.

She assessed her situation:
friend, daughter, granddaughter, new girlfriend, homeowner, business owner, and
kary-cokey
convert just beginning a new chapter of her life in a place that felt like home, surrounded by the people she felt most close to
.

Looking around the bar she realized that you can’t always know the secret histories and desires of people you’re close to, but you can be sure that they exist. In everyone. Everywhere.

This little town of Abandon, Oregon, held infinite secrets and histories. Taffy had uncovered a few, and she had no doubt there were plenty more. But for this moment, secrets and histories were forgotten, outshone by the truth and presence of family and friendship.

Taffy turned to her father. “Think there’s time for one more tune before you get back on stage?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Taffy got up to sing. Her tears had fallen freely, and now her heart felt wide open and full of hope. She held the mike to her lips and said, “This one’s for my mom.”

THE END

Note from the author, Dana Moss:
I hope you enjoyed the first in what will be a series of funny mysteries starring Sweet Taffy Belair. If you'd like to stay in touch and get an email from me when the next book is available, please sign up to receive my free newsletter here:
http://eepurl.com/b6MNMr