Moonshine and Murder

Book 4: A Sweetwater Springs Southern Mystery

by S.C. Merritt

Genres: Christian Suspense; Small Town & Rural; Amateur Sleuth; Cozy Mystery; Culinary Cozy Mysteries; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

Hollywood comes to Sweetwater Springs when a local historic estate is chosen as the location to film a blockbuster movie. Glory and Momma are having the time of their lives, working as extras, until Glory's new friend is found hanging around the set -- literally.
When the police write it off as suicide, Glory's gut tells her differently. Determined to prove the young man was murdered, she begins to uncover secrets about the old mansion that someone wants left hidden.
Will Glory's sleuthing lead the police to the truth or will her determination to bring the killer to justice land her knee-deep in a bootlegger's back yard? And will her budding relationship with the hunky, chief detective survive her uncontrollable urge to solve a mystery?

Release date: July 9, 2020

Print pages: 174

Sample

ONE

I watched my breath smoke as I breathed the cool early fall morning air. Actually, it was a little south of cool. It was downright cold for October in Alabama. I steadied the ladder as Pastor Dan secured the last corner of the church banner to the front of the tent with a plastic zip tie. He gingerly stepped back down each rung until his foot hit solid ground.

“Whew! Glory, if you knew how much I hate heights, you’d be hugging my neck right now,” he said, blowing out a big breath.

I laughed as I folded up the ladder and tucked it out of sight behind the tent. “I can do you one better. How about a cup of hot coffee from the best bakery and coffee shop in town? My treat,” I offered, rubbing my palms together to warm them up.

“I’ll take you up on that!” He smiled as we walked into the shop directly behind us on Main Street.

Maybe I was just a little biased in my opinion. After all, Macy’s on Main belonged to my daughter, Macy. The shop had only been open a couple of months, but so far it was a great success. It had been her dream and she had put in a lot of sweat equity to bring that dream to life. I slipped behind the glass display case and poured Pastor Dan a steaming cup of fresh dark roast.

“Thank you, Glory. This is just what I needed to warm me up from the inside out.” He wrapped both hands around the cup and took a big whiff.

It was only 8:00 but we had already been out in the cold for a couple of hours getting ready for the first ever, Sweetwater Springs Harvest Festival. And by we, I mean, me, Momma, Macy, Tony, Pastor Dan and a host of sweet little ladies from the Sweetwater Springs Baptist Church Sewing Group. Macy and her fiancé, Tony, had been busy setting up her tent, building a beautiful multi-level display of all kinds of pastries and sweet treats. Along the back of her tent was a selection of specialty coffees, hot teas and hot chocolates.

I took a deep breath, taking in the scents of fall. The smell alone was going to bring people by in droves. At least that’s what we were hoping. The ladies at the church tent were confident that with their tent next to Macy’s, they would get plenty of customers. They were hoping to be able to sell all their beautiful quilts and other handmade items to raise enough money to buy warm coats and shoes for children in need all over the county.

A few months ago, at the Sweetwater Springs Ladies’ Club meeting, I’m not sure what came over me, but I volunteered to take charge of this whole Harvest Festival. At the time, I thought I’d have all the time in the world to plan and organize, but that was before my life went slightly off the rails.  Not only had I ill-advisedly stepped into the middle of several murder investigations, my daughter had moved in with me, renovated and opened her own business and recently gotten engaged. As if I didn’t have enough drama in my life already, I found myself in a very unexpected relationship.  Everyone seemed to consider us a thing, now. Hunt Walker was the newest addition to the Sweetwater Springs Police Department. I really didn’t see it coming and I wasn’t looking for it, but sometimes, that’s the way things work. I have to admit, it had been an exciting few months. 

After I had warmed up a bit, I left Pastor Dan chatting with some of Macy’s other customers and headed back out into the cold.

“Are you ladies gonna be okay here to finish setting up without me? I really need to go make the rounds and see if any of the other vendors need anything,” I asked, as I watched them unboxing and pricing all their items.

“We’re fine.” Momma nodded. “You go do what you need to do. I’ll text you if we need you.” All the ladies seemed to be in agreement as they continued stacking quilts, table runners, placemats and hand-smocked baby items for sale.

Praying I hadn’t gotten in over my head with this project, I was feeling a little stressed already. I was glad I was only in charge of the festival until 4:00 this afternoon. After that, I would turn it all over to the Ladies’ Club president, Megan Lester for the evening portion of activities.

I picked up my clipboard and moved on down the sidewalk. The city had decided that Main Street would be blocked off for the whole day. All the traffic was being diverted to the streets that ran parallel to Main on both sides of downtown. There was a makeshift stage set up at the east end of the street where bands playing rock, pop and rap were performing at the top of every hour. And way down at the other end of Main was a larger and more elaborately decorated bandstand where groups playing jazz, gospel and easy classics would perform on the half hour. Making my way up one side of the street and down the other, I needed to stop by each tent to check on vendors.

The next storefront was Busy Bee Florist. The owner, Brigette, had placed iron bakers racks out front with beautiful floral arrangements and home décor items displayed creatively. Colorful baskets of golds, oranges and browns hung from the tent poles at each corner. Swags and garlands featuring rustic pine branches and cones, grapevines and fall leaves in all colors draped along the front of the tent and the tables in front. On other tables, she had gift items including a great selection of those yummy dip mixes that are so easy and perfect for tailgating days.

“Mornin’ Glory!” Brigette greeted me with a smile as she put the finishing touches on one of her displays. “Aren’t you excited about tonight?” She squealed. “Have you seen any of them yet? Do you think Rick Rogers is as handsome in person as he looks on the screen?”

By “them,” Brigette was referring to the biggest news to hit Sweetwater Springs in years. A famous Hollywood movie producer had selected Sweetwater Springs to film his latest big-screen thriller. Acclaimed director, Mason Quinn, the cast and all the crew had arrived in town just last night.

“No, I don’t think they will be out here mingling with us normal people. I heard that the whole caravan arrived last night. Josie Johnson was texting Momma with the play by play while they unloaded and got settled in their rooms at the motel.” Josie and her husband were the owners of our town’s only choice for accommodations, Lakeside Motel.

The film, Blood House, was going to be filmed at the most famous home in the area. Ellington Place was a huge, beautiful home built in around 1845. It survived the Civil War and was refurbished soon after the war ended. The family of Hollywood legend, Lola Ellington bought it in 1910. She was raised there, and the family still owned the home and property which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The family agreed to allow filming there in a deal negotiated by our mayor, Jasper Towns, with the Ellingtons and the movie studio and producers. The production was scheduled to start set up tomorrow with filming to begin Monday morning.

“I gotta keep checking with my vendors, Brigette. Let me know if there’s anything you need. I’ll let you know if I get an inside scoop.” I laughed and checked her off the list on my trusty clipboard.

Just across the street I saw the group from St. Mark’s United Methodist Church firing up their propane griddles to start cooking skillet fried pies. My mouth watered just thinking about the warm apple and peach filling oozing from the flaky crusts. Sweetwater Springs High School Football Boosters were lining up bags of homemade caramel corn, candy and caramel apples as well as sweatshirts with the school’s name and mascot emblazoned across the front. All in all, there were about forty vendors for our first ever Harvest Festival, which I was more than excited about. I checked in with both groups and let them know I was available if they needed anything.

“Glory! Yooohooo! Glory!” I turned as I heard a voice bellowing from behind me. It was Belinda Buford. She was waving frantically from the stage area at the end of the street.

I waved back. “Good morning, Belinda!”.

“Glory, can you come over here?” Belinda was in charge of overseeing the setup of the sound systems for the bands at both stages. The bands weren’t scheduled to start playing until 11:00am. I knew people would like a chance to shop a little and wake up before any type of music began.

“Be right there!” I called down the street. I hoped what she needed wasn’t anything too techy. I was pretty tech-challenged and I had yet to see my brother, Jake this morning. In addition to his job as detective for the Sweetwater Springs Police Department, he volunteered on the tech team at our church, so he knew sound systems backwards and forwards. Anytime we had a town function that needed sound, he was always happy to offer his services if he could coordinate his work schedule. Unfortunately, he ended up on the early shift at the station, but he promised me he would be around if we needed any help. I got to the stage area to find Belinda pacing and wringing her hands in a panic.

 “What’s wrong, Belinda?”

“You hired an electrician to run the electricity for the sound systems, right?”

I gave a nod.

“Well, so far he’s a no-show.” She threw up her hands with an exasperated huff.

“Oh no. Well, it does no good to have a sound system with nothing to power it, does it? They promised to have someone here by 8:00, so they should be here any minute. I’ll give them a call to make sure we’re still on schedule.” I stepped around to the back of the stage area where it was a little quieter to make the call to J.W. Electrical when I heard loud voices. I saw a couple of men near an alley entrance between buildings obviously in a heated discussion.

“You’re headed for trouble and I don’t want any part of it. This is my last job. After I clock out today, I quit.” The younger man said and tried to walk past.

The older man stepped in and blocked his path. “You just try it,” the man said, shaking his fist in the younger man’s face. “I’ll have you black-balled so fast, nobody will even hire you to hang a ceiling fan. You’re in way too deep. And remember your little secret. It’d be a shame if it got out. You’ll stay and you’ll keep your mouth shut about it.”

The younger man pushed past the older with a shove that caused him to stumble backwards. He caught himself on a nearby doorframe and stood, glaring as the young man walked away. I was about to press the call button to check on the electrician when I noticed the younger man was headed my way.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Do you know where I might find a lady named Glory Harper?”

“Well, you’re in luck, because you’ve found her!” I smiled as he approached.

“Mrs. Harper, I’m so sorry to be late. My name is Justin. Jack Winters sent me over to run your auxiliary electrical from the poles down to the stages at each end of Main Street. This should give you plenty of power for the sound systems. I’m giving the one at the main stage a little extra so that the string lights can be plugged in there also.”

“Thank you so much, Justin. I really appreciate you getting this done for us. I couldn’t help but notice a bit of a disagreement between you and that other man. I’m sure you have a lot on your mind. Was that your boss?”

“Oh, yes, ma’am. At least he is until 5:00 this afternoon. Today is my last day on this job. He’s not the best boss to work for.” He frowned and shook his head. “Just between us, he’s involved in several shady business dealings and I just don’t want to be part of that.”

“I hate to hear that. I hope you find something better soon.”

A smile spread across his face. “I already have! I actually start tonight. I’m going to be working on the movie crew over at Ellington Place. When I get off at 5:00 today, I’m going straight over there and begin setting up electrical equipment for the start of production Monday morning!”

“That sounds exciting! Thanks again for getting us set up for the sound, and best of luck in your new job.” I smiled and turned to make my way down to the big stage at the other end of Main. Satisfied that everything was under control, I breathed a little easier. I just hope things stayed that way.