Death by the Finish Line

Book 5: Abby McCree Mystery

by Alexis Morgan

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Craft & Hobby Cozy Mysteries

Synopsis

When a dead body turns up on a race route, Abby McCree hits the ground running to catch a killer . . .

Overcommitted Abby has once again been drafted to use her organizing superpowers—this time for a 5k charity run that’s part of the Founder’s Day Celebration in Snowberry Creek, Washington. At least she has help, albeit from an unlikely source: Gil Pratt, a member of her handsome tenant Tripp Blackston’s veterans group and co-owner of a motorcycle repair shop with his brother. Abby and Gil may seem like an odd couple, but they work great together.

The event seems to be running smoothly—until city council member James DiSalvo is found murdered in a ravine along the race route. Unfortunately, Gil’s brother Gary had a very public argument with DiSalvo minutes before the race, making him the prime suspect. Now the two race organizers must again team up to prove Gary’s innocence—before the real killer makes a run for it. But one wrong step and Abby may be the next one to come in dead last . . .

Release date: December 28, 2021

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 304

Sample

Five months ago

At ten o’clock on a weekday morning, the coffee shop in Snowberry Creek was blissfully quiet. Abby McCree sipped her favorite dark roast coffee and studied the puzzled expression on her companion’s face. Finding it a bit worrisome, she asked, “Hey, are you all right?”

Her mother stared down at her own coffee and sighed. “All this time you’ve told me how you somehow ended up in charge of one committee or another without knowing how it even happened. To be honest, I never really believed it. You’re no pushover, so I thought it was just your way of making excuses for jumping in to take on yet another major time-sucking project.”

At this point she finally dragged her gaze up to meet Abby’s head-on. “But after meeting Connie Pohler this morning, I get what you’ve been trying to tell me. The mayor’s assistant is a lovely woman, so warm and friendly. At the same time, she has an absolutely terrifying ability to convince someone that they want nothing more in life than to help organize a charity run.”

By that point, Abby couldn’t help but laugh. She’d seen that same dazed expression on her own face on several occasions after talking to Connie. When her mom looked a bit put out by her reaction, Abby grimaced and apologized. “Sorry, Mom, I probably shouldn’t laugh, but I warned you not to make eye contact with Connie. The second you do that, she’s got you under her spell.”

Abby pointed to the two plates on the table. “That’s why I brought you here to Something’s Brewing. The only way to console ourselves is with a great cup of coffee and a big piece of Bridey’s best gooey butter cake. Besides, you only agreed to help on the weekend of the event. I’m in charge of the whole dang thing.”

Throwing her hands up in frustration, she sighed. “What do I know about organizing the Founder’s Day Salmon Scoot? The closest I’ve ever come to serious running is watching Tripp set off on his daily crack-of-dawn jaunt.”

It couldn’t be any fun to get out of bed to pound the pavement every day, rain or shine. But her handsome tenant, Tripp Blackston, rarely blew off his morning runs. He claimed that after twenty years in the army, the daily runs had become a habit he couldn’t break. She wished he would try harder, mainly because she felt guilty for not dragging herself out of bed to join him.

Her mother managed a rueful smile. “Well, at least Connie did say she had someone interested in co-chairing the race with you. Maybe that person knows more about this kind of thing. At least you won’t have to do everything by yourself.”

If only that were true. “That would be nice, but it all depends on who it is and how much time he or she is willing to put in on the project.”

Honestly, she’d rather do it all herself than have to nag her yet-to-be-named partner to make sure everything got done on time. More than one person—including Chad, her ex-husband—had pointed out Abby’s control-freak tendencies over the years. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that about herself, but those same people had benefited from her compulsion to make sure things got done right and on time. Unfortunately, it was also the reason she was near the top of Connie Pohler’s list of favorite people to call on whenever a new project crossed her desk.

For now, Abby took solace in rich coffee and a decadent dessert while her mother did the same. She refused to feel guilty about consuming so many carbs. Earlier, she’d promised her furry roommate a long walk after she got back home, so she could work off at least a portion of the calories before the day was out.

A low rumble coming from out on the street drew their attention to the front window of the shop. A few seconds later, a double line of motorcycles rolled past, all being ridden by tough-looking men in black leather vests. Their presence in town didn’t come as a surprise. The local motorcycle repair shop had a reputation for quality work, and people came from all over the area to get their bikes fixed.

What was a surprise, though, was seeing one of the bikes peel off from the pack to park right outside of Something’s Brewing. It wasn’t as if she thought bikers didn’t drink coffee, but she’d spent a lot of time in Bridey’s shop and had never seen any come in. She recognized this one, though, as soon as he dismounted and took off his helmet. It was Gil Pratt, co-owner with his brother of the repair shop.

She’d crossed paths with him several times since her move to Snowberry Creek. Gil might be a little rough around the edges, but he’d always been nothing but polite to her. Still, he seemed like the kind of guy who liked his coffee black, extra strong, and preferably brewed in a coffeepot that hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned in years. But after setting his helmet down on the seat of his bike, he headed straight toward the door of the coffee shop. Once inside, he stopped to look around. As soon as he spotted Abby, he smiled and headed over to the counter to place his order.

“Do you know that man?”

Her mother sounded a bit horrified by that prospect. That came as no surprise. There was a lot about Abby’s decision to make her new home in Snowberry Creek that her mother disapproved of, starting with the fact she’d become embroiled in four—count them, four!—homicide investigations since moving there. While her mother didn’t blame Abby for divorcing her now ex-husband for cheating on her, she did question her decision not to immediately dive right back into the corporate world in Seattle. But thanks to a sizable inheritance from her late aunt, Abby had no need to rush things. For now, she was content to take her time setting down some deep roots in her new home.

“Yes, Mom, I know him. Gil is a member of the same veterans group as Tripp, and we’ve run into each other at a couple of functions. He and his younger brother own a very successful business here in town.”

Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but she didn’t want her mother to base her opinion of the man solely on his ponytail, scuffed boots, and leather vest. Meanwhile, Gil picked up a tray holding three cups of coffee and headed straight for them.

She did her best to hide her surprise at his approach, offering him a quick smile when he stopped at their table. He gave each of them a quick nod as he set the coffees down. “Hi, ladies. I asked Bridey to make you another of whatever you were drinking.”

Before they could respond, he hustled over to the counter to pick up a muffin that the barista had heated up for him before returning to their table. Clearly, this was no chance encounter. Abby’s weird-o-meter was starting to register some pretty strange vibes, but she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Falling back on the good manners both her mother and her late aunt had drilled into her, she pointed at the empty chair next to her. “Won’t you join us, Gil?”

“Thanks, I don’t mind if I do.”

After he got settled, she said, “I don’t think the two of you have met. Gil, this is my mother, Phoebe McCree. Mom, this is Gil Pratt.”

He smiled at her mother. His eyes twinkled, suggesting he had a good idea of her mom’s reaction to having a biker join them. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. I can sure tell where Abby gets her good looks. She has your dark hair and pretty hazel eyes. I do hope you know your daughter here has been a real godsend to our veterans group and others here in Snowberry Creek. She also helped me out of a bit of a rough spot a few months back.”

One look at her mom made it clear she’d likely be grilling Abby on that particular subject later when they were alone. Great. All she’d done was to make sure the police knew Gil hadn’t thrown the first punch when a bar brawl had broken out when she and Tripp had been at a local hangout playing pool with their friends. To her surprise, Gil had shown up on her front porch the next day with a bouquet of flowers to thank her for her efforts and for keeping him out of jail. Of course, she’d also secretly been checking him out as a possible suspect in a murder case, but what was a little suspicion among friends?

Somehow she doubted her mother would find that amusing, so she changed the subject. “Do you come in here very often?”

He gave a rusty laugh as he glanced around the room. “No offense to Bridey, but it isn’t exactly my kind of place. Gary and I do stop in regularly to load up on some of her pastries, but we get everything to go.”

After taking a careful sip of his coffee, he set the cup back down. “Actually, Connie Pohler thought the two of us should talk and that I could probably find you here.”

By that point, Abby’s brain was screaming “Mayday, mayday!” Even so, she thought she sounded pretty calm as she asked, “Well, you found me. What’s up?”

Gil drew a deep breath and then slowly let it out as if bracing himself to deliver some bad news. “I’d like to partner with you to organize the run for the Founder’s Day celebration, but only if you would be willing to work with me.”

Without giving her a chance to respond, he added, “Look, I don’t mean to put you in an awkward position, and I’ll understand if you’d rather find someone else. Don’t feel like you have to say yes.”

She might have believed a negative answer wouldn’t matter all that much to him, but it was hard to miss the tight hold he had on his coffee cup and the lines of tension bracketing his mouth. Even if she had qualms about accepting, she did feel compelled to give his offer some serious consideration.

“I have a couple of questions for you first, if that’s okay.”

He released the death grip on his coffee and eased back in his chair. “Ask away.”

“Connie assured me a lot of the preliminary work is already done. Even if that’s true, organizing something like this takes a lot of effort. Considering you own your own business, will you have the time?”

Gil nodded. “Good question. My hours are flexible. As long as we set up a regular schedule to meet, it won’t be a problem. That’s true even when we get closer to the actual race and need to meet more often. Gary knows I want to do this, and he’s on board with paying a friend of ours to help him out at the shop a few hours a week if the work piles up a bit.”

So this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment offer, and he’d given the matter some serious thought. Feeling more optimistic, she asked her next question. “Have you ever done anything like this before? It will involve keeping track of a whole bunch of information. At this point, I don’t yet have a clear idea what all it will entail.”

Gil leaned forward, elbows on the table and looking more relaxed. “I worked in supply back when I was in the navy. I tracked inventory, filled orders, and dealt with various suppliers to maintain stock. On a smaller scale, I do the same at our shop. I also keep all the books for our business, including doing our taxes. That’s a pretty roundabout way of saying I’ve got a knack for tracking information.”

Better and better. “How are you at riding herd on people? We’ll need to recruit a bunch of volunteers to help, but unfortunately not all of them will be as reliable as they should be.”

He shot her a wicked grin. “Try dealing with bikers day in and day out. Anything else?”

She found herself laughing at that, and even her mother was smiling by that point. “Yeah, I have one more question. Do you know anything about what this kind of event entails?”

Bless him, he was already nodding. “Actually, Gary runs in races several times a year, most longer than this one. I’ve helped him train and even volunteered to help out the day of the races a few times.”

Wow, he’d just ticked all the boxes on her spur-of-the-moment questionnaire. She’d be foolish to turn down his offer to help. She stuck her hand out. “Well, Gil, if you’re sure, then let’s do this.”

His callused hand gently engulfed hers and gave it a quick shake to seal the deal. She only hoped he didn’t come to regret his decision.

Present day

Life would be so much better without alarm clocks. Well, technically the irritating chirp that had dragged Abby out of a deep sleep originated from her cell phone, but the principle was the same. She grabbed the phone and debated whether she could risk turning on the snooze feature. Another fifteen minutes of shut-eye would feel pretty darn good.

Sadly, there was no way she could give in to that temptation. Today was the day she and her co-chair had been working toward for months, and she couldn’t risk showing up late. Too many people were counting on her.

Throwing back the covers, she sat up on the edge of the bed. Zeke, her mastiff-mix roommate, lifted his enormous head to give her a grumpy look. “Sorry, boy. Go back to sleep if you want. I’m the only one who has to be up at this awful hour.”

Taking Abby at her word, he dropped his head back down on his paws and was back to snoring before she reached the bathroom door. When she walked out twenty minutes later, showered and dressed, Zeke sighed and slowly dragged himself up to his feet to follow her downstairs. She let him out to make his morning rounds while she put together a quick breakfast for two people and one big dog.

When Zeke returned, he wasn’t alone. Tripp, who rented the small mother-in-law house on the back of the property, followed the dog into her kitchen. She’d barely been able to dress herself at this hour, but Tripp was clean shaven, his dark hair neatly combed, and his dark eyes sparkled with good humor. He looked irritatingly chirpy, but then he was a morning person. Lucky for him, he had other redeeming characteristics to make up for that one serious shortcoming. After pouring each of them a cup of coffee, he set hers within easy reach on the counter and took his own over to the table.

“I bet you thought this day would never arrive.”

She dished up the scrambled eggs and bacon before carrying their plates over to the table. “Yeah, it’s been a long time coming.”

Abby grabbed her coffee and took her usual seat beside Tripp. “All in all, planning this thing has gone pretty darn smoothly, thanks in large part to Gil. He’s been a real trooper about picking up the slack whenever someone else needed help getting something done. Poor guy.”

Tripp had been about to shovel a huge bite of eggs into his mouth, but he froze in position. “Why do you say that?”

“Because now Connie Pohler has him in her sights. I’m sure she’s already plotting against him with an entire assortment of projects and committees she wants him to take on.”

“Well, at least maybe that means she won’t be coming after you anytime soon.”

If only. She had no illusions about her chances of avoiding any further entanglements with town events, but that was a worry for another day. Right now, she needed to finish breakfast and then head off to the park where the race would begin in just over three hours. Tripp had loaned her his truck for the day so she could haul all the signs and other stuff that needed to be set up right before the race.

“Are you sure you want to ride to the park with me? You can drive my car if you’d like to wait until closer to starting time.”

Tripp checked his watch. “No, that’s okay. I got a text from Owen last night saying he and your mom will meet us there. I can hang out with him.”

It had taken some time to get used to her mother having a man in her life, although Abby had grown to like Owen Quinn a lot. She liked his barbecue even more and ate at his restaurant far more frequently than she should. Even so, she still occasionally winced when reminded that whenever her mom came down from Seattle for a weekend, she now stayed at Owen’s house rather than with her daughter. To be honest, though, it was probably better that way. Abby loved her mom and had no doubt her mother loved her in return. But if they spent too much time living under the same roof, things tended to get a bit rocky.

They made quick work of their meal and the cleanup afterward. “I’ll grab my gear and meet you outside.”

Tripp stopped long enough to toss Zeke a couple of treats before heading out the door. After gathering up the last few things she’d need to get through the day, Abby took one more look around the kitchen to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. It was going to be a long day, but once it was over, life would slow down again. She couldn’t wait. Tripp had just started another full load of classes at the university and had been training hard for the race. Between his schedule and her various committee meetings, they hadn’t been able to spend as much time together as they usually did. She missed their movie and pizza nights, not to mention the long walks they often took together with Zeke.

It seemed as if their friendship had been teetering on the edge of becoming something more for a while now, but lately their busy lives had put a little distance between them. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that. They had a race to get through.

Zeke sat by the door, clearly hoping his humans were going to include him in their outing. “Sorry to disappoint you, boy, but you’ll have to hold down the fort by yourself today.”

She accompanied her apology with a big hug along with a kiss on his wrinkly forehead. After tossing her buddy one more treat, she let herself out the back door, locking up as she left. Tripp was just stepping down off his porch.

She stashed her tote bag in the back of his truck and carried her small backpack around to the passenger side where Tripp stood waiting to open the door for her. He held her pack while she climbed up into the seat. “Are you and Gil both counting the minutes until this is over?”

There was no reason to lie about it. “You have no idea. Who knew how much went into organizing one of these things?”

He resumed the conversation after he joined her in the cab of the truck. “Sorry I haven’t been around to help very much, but it seems like you have a pretty good crew of volunteers from what I could see.”

“We do, and it was my lucky day when Connie pointed Gil in my direction. He’s been amazing from day one. Always the first to volunteer to take on any job and never failed to get stuff done on time. I actually had to remind him that it was okay to delegate a little now and then.”

Tripp glanced over at her. “I’m not the only one who was surprised to hear that he’d volunteered to co-chair this thing. From what I’ve heard, he’s never gotten involved in anything like this before, especially on this scale.”

“I was surprised, too. That just goes to show we shouldn’t make assumptions about people. Heck, he’s even managed to charm my mom. She even wants to have Gil and his brother over for dinner after all of this is over.”

Tripp’s laughter filled the cab of the truck. “I’m having trouble picturing that. Still, I’m really glad he stepped up and did such a great job.”

“Me too, but he’s spoiled me for working with anyone else. Maybe it’s his military background. You know, like back when you dragooned me into setting up the fundraiser for your veterans group. One of your selling points was that people who’d served were used to working as a team and to taking orders.”

She tried but failed to fight back a huge yawn. “Sorry. I’m not sure there’s enough caffeine in the whole town to wake me up. I’m out of practice getting up at this hour.”

Tripp immediately executed a U-turn and headed back in the direction of the main business district in town.

“Where are you taking me?”

“I’m going to make a quick stop at Something’s Brewing. You’re not the only one who’ll appreciate a big cup of Bridey’s best.”

He didn’t give her any say in the matter, but she wasn’t about to argue. Unless there was a huge line, they would still make it to the staging area in plenty of time. She reached for her pack to fish out her wallet. Tripp shook his head. “Put that away. This one is on me.”

If it was just her coffee he was buying, she wouldn’t argue, but she suspected they should probably pick up a few extras. “I was going to ask you to get some for Mom, Owen, and Gil.”

The stubborn man just shook his head. “I said I’ve got it.”

He whipped into a parking spot a couple of doors down from the coffee shop and was off and running before Abby could respond. Tripp must have lucked out, because it was only a few minutes before he was back. She rolled down her window to take a cardboard tray holding six cups of coffee. When he joined her inside the cab, she asked, “Who is the sixth one for?”

He shrugged. “Whoever asks for it first. I thought Gary might be with Gil. If not, I’m betting Gage will be around early, and you know how much he loves coffee.”

True enough. The chief of police was one of Bridey’s best customers, at least when his teenage daughter wasn’t around to catch him. He complained all the time about her nagging about his diet, but he always did it with a smile.

They were almost to the park. The 5K run wasn’t the only event scheduled for the Founder’s Day celebration that morning, so she wasn’t surprised to see several different groups of people milling around in the parking lot. She pointed off to the left. “Gil’s over there.”

“I’ll back in to make it easier to unload everything. After we’re done, I’ll drive the truck over to the event parking at the high school and catch the shuttle back.”

“Is it even running this early?”

“If not, I can walk. It’s not that far.”

By that point, Gil had spotted them and was headed in their direction. When he reached the truck, she held up the coffees, which brought a huge smile to his face. He opened the door and took the tray. “Bless you, woman. I had some earlier, but it’s already worn off.”

“Don’t thank me. Tripp’s the one who made the emergency caffeine stop. There’s an extra if Gary’s around. Otherwise, give it to whoever needs it the most.”

“Will do. I’ll be right back.”

He carried the tray over to a nearby picnic table and then returned to help unload the truck. “I have the water Owen Quinn donated for the race in my truck. A few friends from the veterans group should be here in a few minutes with a couple of hand trucks. I told them to divide most of the water up between the water stations and the medical tent and then bring the rest to the finish line. The people manning the water tables will let us know if they start running low after the race gets started.”

That checked off a couple of items from Abby’s to-do list. They had just finished carrying the last of their stuff over to the picnic table when Owen and her mother arrived. Abby handed them their coffee and caught her mom up on where things stood after Owen and Tripp left to drop their vehicles off at the off-site parking.

Abby handed her mother a clipboard. Her mom’s job was to stand at the finish line and check off the names of everyone as they crossed the finish line. Someone else, a professional they’d hired, would handle recording the official race times. “Well, Mom, are you ready for this madness?”

“Yes, I think so. It will get pretty chaotic closer to race time, but you and Gil have things well in hand.”

Crossing her fingers that was true, Abby grabbed her tablet and studied her to-do list. Gil had a small laptop that he used to track things, but he also kept printouts of everything on a clipboard. He said he’d had a few bad experiences in the past when something went wrong with his electronic files at the worst possible moment. This way they were covered no matter what happened.

The two of them went over the lists together to make sure nothing had been missed. When they were done, Abby took a big swig of her coffee and smiled at her partner. “Well, Gil, this is it. Pardon the play on words, but we’re off and running.”

He grinned as he picked up one stack of signs. “I’ll start posting these. It shouldn’t take long, and then I can help set up the tables at the finish line.”

“I’ll see you there.”

It didn’t surprise her when Connie Pohler was the next person to appear. “Good morning, Abby. I wanted to see if you needed any last minute help.”

“Thanks for asking, Connie, but I think we’ve got it all taken care of for now. I’m sure some surprises will pop up over the course of the morning, but all the major stuff is covered. Gil and I both wanted to thank you for everything you did beforehand. It really helped that you already had all of the permits, insurance, and sponsors pretty much lin. . .