Death of a Blueberry Tart

Book 12: Hayley Powell Mystery

by Lee Hollis

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Cozy Mystery; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

It may not be front page news, but Island Times food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell is now happily married. Before she can set sail on her honeymoon cruise, however, Hayley's mom, Sheila, pays an impromptu visit—and promptly becomes the prime suspect in a murder.

The victim is Sheila's old high school rival, Caskie Lemon-Hogg, known for her homemade blueberry pies and her home-wrecking flirtations. As Hayley teams up with her BFFs Liddy and Mona to clear her mother's name, Sheila reunites with Liddy's mom Celeste and Mona's mom Jane for their own amateur sleuthing. The race is on between the moms and the daughters to find out who served this blueberry tart her just desserts . . .

Release date: March 31, 2020

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 254

Sample

Reverend Staples stood before Hayley and Bruce and all the wedding guests filling the pews of the Congregational church and asked, “If anyone here has just cause why these two people should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

He waited a moment, smiled at the happy couple, and then got right to the good part. “By the power vested in me by the state of Maine—”

“Wait! I do! I have just cause!” a man bellowed from the back of the church.

The crowd gasped and whipped around in their seats to see who was rudely interrupting the ceremony.

Hayley’s jaw dropped open.

She swooned, fearing she was on the cusp of fainting dead away.

Bruce gripped her hands even tighter to keep her steady as she stared at the intruder standing on the church threshold.

What was he doing here?

It was Danny Powell.

Hayley’s ex-husband.

Hayley’s mind raced. How could he have possibly known she was going to marry Bruce Linney, the crime reporter from the Island Times newspaper where she worked? It was Hayley’s best friend Liddy Crawford who was supposed to be married today, in this church, at this time. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the wedding had been abruptly called off, leaving Bruce to unexpectedly propose to Hayley, and with Liddy’s blessing, the wedding ceremony had resumed with a new bride and groom.

Danny charged down the aisle toward them. Hayley’s brother, Randy, who was sitting on the end of a pew, looked as if he might try to intervene and stop Danny en route, but he demurred as Danny blew past him and marched right up to the still-in-shock couple.

“Danny, what’s going on? How did you know—?”

He cut her off. “I didn’t! Liddy invited me to her wedding!”

Hayley glanced at Liddy, who was sitting in the front row with her mother, Celeste. Liddy shrugged. “I never thought in a million years he would actually show up! I mean he lives in Idaho!”

“Iowa,” Danny corrected her. “My plane got delayed in Philadelphia and I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I got here at the last minute, and imagine my surprise when I walked in here and saw this!”

He gestured toward Hayley and Bruce standing numbly at the altar in front of Reverend Staples.

Gemma held up a hand from the middle of the congregation, calling to her father. “Dad, why don’t you come here and sit next to me . . .”

Danny shook his head. “I can’t, baby girl. Not yet. Not until your mother tells me that she no longer loves me.”

“What?” Hayley cried.

“I love you, Hayley, I’ve never stopped loving you. Splitting up with you was the absolute worst decision I ever made in my life, and I will never be at peace until I correct it.”

“It’s too late,” Bruce said sternly, quickly losing patience. “Maybe you ought to listen to your daughter and take a seat.”

The two men glared at each other, and Hayley feared a fight might break out so she stepped between them to keep the two men separated.

“I’m not going anywhere, not until Hayley answers my question,” Danny said, standing his ground.

Hayley sighed. “Danny, you can’t just barge in here and—”

He cut her off again. “Tell me, babe, tell me you don’t feel the same way about me that I feel about you. We have always been meant for each other, that’s clear to me now, and this time, I’m not going to screw it up!”

“What about Becky?” Hayley asked, suddenly remembering Danny’s much younger girlfriend back in Iowa.

“We broke up months ago.”

“The kids never said anything . . .” Hayley said, her voice trailing off.

“I didn’t tell them. I was embarrassed because it ended badly. I finally told her I didn’t love her because my heart belonged to someone else. She didn’t have to ask who. She knew.”

“Oh, Danny . . .”

“Look, buddy, I’m warning you . . .” Bruce interjected, his face reddening.

Danny threw his hands up. “Okay, I’ll go. Right after she tells me she no longer loves me.”

Bruce shook his head, annoyed. “Fine.” Then he turned to Hayley. “Tell him.”

Hayley opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out.

The congregation was utterly silent.

“Go on, Hayley, tell him . . .”

Hayley tried to speak, to say the words everyone was expecting to hear, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t say no.

She was taking so long to answer such a simple question there was now surprised murmuring coming from the pews.

“Hayley?” Bruce asked, his voice cracking.

Danny stood defiantly at her side, feeling emboldened with each passing second.

“Hayley, what’s wrong? Tell him!” Bruce demanded, desperately now.

Hayley’s eyes filled with tears.

This was the last thing she had ever expected.

Finally, she managed to choke out the words, “I’m sorry, Bruce . . .”

The entire congregation gasped, stunned.

Danny couldn’t help but break out into a wide, triumphant smile.

Hayley shook her head, overwhelmed by the enormity of what she was about to do. “I’m so, so sorry . . .”

And then, Danny grabbed her hand, squeezed it lovingly, and pulled her down the aisle behind him and right out of the church.

Hayley bolted upright in bed. Sweat poured down her face as she breathed heavily, and took in her surroundings. She was in her own bedroom, in her house on Glenmary Road, and her dog, Leroy, was fast asleep at the foot of the bed. There was a lump snoring softly next to her, and it took a moment or two to remember who he was. She gently reached over and pulled down the covers a bit to get a good look at his face.

Hayley sighed with relief.

It was him.

Bruce Linney.

Her husband.

Danny showing up at their last-minute wedding ceremony at the Congregational church two months ago had unfortunately not been a dream. Liddy had invited him, never expecting him to actually show up, and he had vociferously objected to Hayley marrying Bruce, mostly because the sight of her at the altar had so surprised him, so shaken him, he had had some kind of involuntary outburst. He had never truly expected Hayley to call the whole thing off and run away with him, and in Hayley’s mind, that would have been the second biggest mistake of her life, the first having been marrying Danny in the first place.

But luckily, Hayley was clear-eyed about Bruce, and her feelings for him, and how much she looked forward to starting a new life together, and so it had been an easy choice to make.

She had set Danny straight in front of the church full of wedding guests, reminding him that their time together was squarely and mercifully in the past, and she was now going to marry Bruce. Danny had quietly accepted her wishes, quickly backed off, and left for Des Moines the following day with his tail between his legs.

And that’s when she finally got hitched to Bruce.

They had only been married a couple of months now, but it felt as if they had been together for decades. Hayley had initially wondered how they would adjust to married life, what difficulties might lie ahead, but it had been so easy, so natural, so right.

Of course there had been a few bumps along the way. Bruce was an anal-retentive neat freak and Hayley, after having raised two rambunctious, wild, and messy kids, had always struggled to keep a spotless home. Hayley liked to have dinner promptly at six o’clock, again a habit formed with her two hungry kids who had homework to do after dinner, while Bruce, who had never been a parent, preferred a leisurely dinner starting around eight in the evening and lingering with a bottle of wine until well after ten. Bruce was up and at the gym just after dawn, while Hayley hid under the covers until Leroy and her cat, Blueberry, scratched and howled at her until she was forced to drag herself out of bed for their first feeding of the day.

She could write a book about their differences—she and Bruce, not the dog and cat. After a rocky relationship that had begun way back in high school with a disastrous first date, they had managed to avoid each other until fate had brought them back together at the Island Times office when the editor-in-chief, Sal Moretti, hired Hayley to be office manager and subsequently the food and cocktails columnist, and where Bruce toiled as the paper’s resident crime reporter.

Their work relationship could best be summed up as fractured and contentious, at best they tolerated each other. But then something strange and wonderful happened. The ice melted between them. Some might chalk it up to global warming, but others, especially the romantics among them, like Liddy, or her daughter, Gemma, reasoned it was the spark that had always lain dormant between them, finally reigniting. They fell in love like one usually falls asleep. Slowly and then all at once.

And now, before Hayley even realized what was going on, they were a married couple.

Hayley stared at Bruce’s handsome face. She still couldn’t believe it. Bruce Linney, the butt of so many of her jokes in the past, now her husband. Whoever said opposites attract had never been so spot-on when it came to Hayley and Bruce. She couldn’t help but smile. She had proclaimed on numerous occasions that she would never, ever marry again. And now, here he was, sleeping so sweetly and soundly next to her. It sent a warm feeling throughout her body.

Suddenly her quiet thoughts and reflections were abruptly interrupted by Bruce unleashing a loud sneeze. His whole body jerked and he suddenly sat up, awake, his eyes watering. He looked around, suspicious.

“Where is he?” Bruce growled.

Oh, right, there was one more challenge they were facing now that they were married and living under one roof.

Bruce violently sneezed again.

He wiped his nose with his hand and glowered. “He’s in here somewhere!”

Blueberry.

Bruce was allergic to cats, and Blueberry was a big Persian cat with lots of fur and dander.

Hayley had tried all kinds of sprays, a high-efficiency particulate air purifier, and a special vacuum cleaner to suck up all the cat allergens, all to no avail. Bruce was still miserable whenever Blueberry was around, and even when he wasn’t. Hayley was at a loss. Blueberry had been a part of the family for years, and she had no idea how she was going to deal with this problem. Bruce tried to be a trouper at first, but it was getting more difficult by the day.

The bedroom door was open a crack, which meant Blueberry had pushed his way through. Hayley jumped out of bed and circled the room, finally spotting Blueberry sitting blissfully by the window that was open a bit, a slight breeze blowing the curtains around as well as Blueberry’s small particles of pet dander. It was just light enough outside, with the sun cresting over Cadillac Mountain, bringing daylight to the coastal town of Bar Harbor, that Hayley could make out a slight, almost imperceptible smile on her cat’s face, almost has if he was enjoying torturing Bruce.

“Out, Blueberry!” Hayley commanded, clapping her hands loud enough that the sound sent Blueberry scurrying out of the room.

Bruce sneezed one, two, three more times before he crawled out of bed. “My allergies just keep getting worse.”

“I know, Bruce, I’m sorry . . .” Hayley said quietly. “We’ll think of something.”

He didn’t believe her.

She had said this so many times.

But nothing seemed to be working.

Bruce slipped on some sweatpants and a tank top, grabbed his gym bag off a chair next to the bed, and headed out the bedroom door. “I’m going to the gym.”

“I love you!” Hayley called after him.

“Love you too,” Bruce said.

Suddenly she heard a screeching sound.

“What is it?”

“I just stepped on Blueberry’s tail. He was on the stairs!” Bruce yelled back.

“Is he all right?” Hayley asked.

“He’s fine,” Bruce said before mumbling to himself although loud enough for Hayley to hear, “That’s one of us.”

And then he stomped down the stairs and out the front door to his car.

Hayley threw on a robe and crossed out of the bedroom to see Blueberry huddled near the staircase, staring up at her.

“Wipe that smile off your face,” Hayley warned.

Hayley had breakfast on the table by the time Bruce returned from the gym. She had also placed a brochure next to his plate of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and whole wheat toast lightly buttered. Bruce’s eyes zeroed right in on the brochure and he picked it up and unfolded it.

“Just six more days,” he said with more than just a hint of excitement in his voice.

“I know, I’ve been counting too,” Hayley said.

Bruce scanned the brochure. “They have a Saturday Night Fever musical production in the main theater.”

“We should definitely go.”

“If we ever make it out of our stateroom,” Bruce said playfully with a wink.

Because their wedding had been so out-of-the-blue and not planned, the newlyweds had never had the opportunity to book a honeymoon. On the night of their wedding, they had split a pizza and watched a movie, not even a good one, a grade-B disaster movie starring the Rock, which got terrible reviews. Neither of them had even put in for any vacation time at the office, so any kind of romantic excursion had to be postponed until they could work out the details. But now, two months later, they were far more prepared. Sal had approved their vacation time request and they had booked a one-week cruise to the Bahamas, and were scheduled to fly out of Bangor to Fort Lauderdale in less than a week.

The luxury suites had already been booked and there were only a few staterooms left, but Hayley had managed to grab one with a small terrace overlooking an expansive ocean view. Neither she nor Bruce cared about having a lot of space to move around in as long as they were together.

“The food is supposed to be incredible so no dieting, or talking about dieting, okay? This is our honeymoon! We need to indulge,” Bruce said, flipping the brochure over to read the back.

“Understood,” Hayley agreed, pinching her belly fat and wondering if it would be possible to lose ten pounds before they left Bar Harbor for the airport.

Hayley’s cell phone buzzed on the kitchen counter where she had left it so she could scramble Bruce’s eggs. She checked the screen.

“She’s calling awfully early,” Hayley said.

It was her mother, Sheila.

Hayley answered the call. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hayley, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you.”

“Hayley?”

“Hi, Mom . . .”

“Hayley?”

“Mom, I’m here. Can you hear me?”

Sheila hung up.

Hayley sighed, waited the five seconds before her phone started buzzing again. She pressed the screen to answer again.

“Mom?”

“Oh, there you are. Can you hear me?”

“I hear you fine, Mom.”

“Hold on . . .” There was a rustling sound before Hayley heard her mother’s voice again, except she was talking to someone else at the moment. “You put me in the exit row. I can’t sit there. If something goes wrong, it will be up to me to open the door, and that’s just too much pressure. Do you have another seat? Preferably up front, near a window.”

Hayley heard a clicking sound, like someone was typing on a computer.

“Mom, where are you?”

“Philadelphia.”

“What are you doing in Philadelphia?”

“I’m on a layover.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m coming to you.”

Hayley stared at Bruce, who had just bitten off a piece of turkey bacon and mouthed the words, “What is it?”

Hayley shrugged, having no idea. “You’re coming to Bar Harbor?”

“Yes, didn’t you get my email?”

“No, when did you send it?”

“This morning. Right before I left Florida.”

“Mom, it’s eight thirty in the morning. I haven’t read my emails.”

“Oh, well, basically I just wrote that I’m coming to see you. There, now you don’t have to read it.”

“Okay, thanks,” Hayley said numbly.

“My flight to Bangor gets in at . . . hold on, let me check the ticket . . . I can’t read a thing without my glasses. Excuse me, yes, you . . .” More rustling as she seemed to accost a stranger. “Could you tell me what time it says we get in?”

After a brief pause, a young man’s voice answered, “At 1:29 PM, ma’am.”

“Thank you, you’re a peach.” Sheila’s voice was faint but got louder as she spoke into the phone again.

“I get in at 1:29 PM.”

“Do you want me to pick you up?” Hayley asked.

“Of course not. I know you work. I think they have some kind of airport shuttle now between Bangor and the island. I’ll look into it when we land. The last thing I want to do is inconvenience you or Bruce, unless one of you just happens to have to drive up to Bangor today.”

It was an hour’s drive, and Sheila knew the likelihood of either of them taking a trip to Bangor on a workday was remote at best.

Hayley had a worrying suspicion that something was wrong. Her mother always meticulously planned her trips to Maine months in advance. She couldn’t understand why her mother would just show up now without any warning.

“Mom, is everything okay?”

There was a long silence on the other end.

Bruce stood up and carried his empty plate and silverware to the sink, glancing at Hayley for some kind of clue as to what was happening.

“Mom?”

“I’m here . . .” Sheila said, her voice cracking.

Hayley heard sniffling.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing . . .”

“I can tell there’s something wrong . . .”

“I. . .