The Body in the Apartment

Book 4: Jazzi Zanders Mystery

by Judi Lynn

Genres: Cozy Mystery; Animal Cozy Mysteries; Crime Fiction

Synopsis

The charming homes of River Bluffs, Indiana, make perfect projects for house-flipper Jazzi Zanders. Less charming is her hothead brother-in-law, who's a bit of a fixer-upper himself.

But could he also be a murderer?

Jazzi married her gorgeous contractor Ansel—not his family. But somehow she keeps living with them. So she's delighted to help Ansel's brother Radley move out of their home and into his own place, in the same building as his work supervisor, Donovan. But when Donovan is shot and his apartment ransacked following an argument with Ansel and Radley's older brother Bain, their sibling becomes a suspect—especially after his missing gun turns up as the murder weapon.

Told not to leave town by Detective Gaff, big brother moves in with...Jazzi and Ansel. Now Jazzi needs to prove Bain's no killer, not only to keep him out of jail—but to get him out of their house. What was the killer looking for in Donovan's apartment? And what will happen to the next person who gets in the way?

Release date: March 17, 2020

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 256

Sample

Chapter 1

Jazzi had mixed feelings. Ansel’s older brother, Radley, was moving out after staying with them for three months. She’d enjoyed getting to know him, and Ansel had enjoyed having him around. But it would be nice to have the house to themselves again. And it’s not like Radley was moving back to Wisconsin. He’d found an apartment in the same building where Donovan, his work supervisor lived. He’d still pop in every weekend for the family Sunday meal, probably more often if he got hungry.

As he stalked through the kitchen on his way upstairs, he stopped to sniff. “What’s in the oven?”

So much like his brother, a man who loved food. At six one, Radley wasn’t as tall as Ansel, and his build was sinewy instead of pure muscle, but he was almost as good-looking. And he was more outgoing, making friends easily.

“Beef enchiladas. I made an extra pan for you to take with you. You can keep the glass dish. You might need it.”

Radley came to give her a hug. “If I bring it back empty, will you fill it for me again?”

Yup, he and Ansel had a few things in common. She waved him away. “Dream on. But you’re always welcome to drop in.”

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before tromping up the steps. Inky and Marmalade chased after him. Her cats thought moving day was a new kind of entertainment.

When Radley had come for her and Ansel’s November wedding, he’d liked River Bluffs so much, he left his family’s dairy farm and started training at the furnace and air conditioning company where Thane worked. Thane was her sister, Olivia’s, live-in boyfriend. The two had hit it off so well, he became a regular at Thane’s Saturday night poker parties, along with Donovan and Walker, Thane’s BFF.

None of this set well with Bain, Ansel and Radley’s oldest brother. Their dad was furious. When Radley called to tell Bain he’d signed a one-year lease on an apartment here, Bain went ballistic. But what could he do about it? Radley didn’t want to milk cows for the rest of his life.

Jazzi glanced at the kitchen calendar. The time had flown so fast. She couldn’t believe the day had come for Radley’s move—February twelfth. And five days after that, on the seventeenth, Franny’s baby was due. She, Ansel, and Jerod flipped houses together. Her cousin was so nervous about Franny’s pregnancy, he walked on pins and porcupine quills. Every time his phone rang at the fixer-upper they were working on, he jumped for it.

Ansel and Radley had taken bets on whether the baby would come before or after Jerod handed the buyer the keys to the finished house. It was almost done, so Ansel—who’d bet on before—teased Franny to get busy and push the baby out.

Franny was ready. Big and uncomfortable, she swore this would be their last kid. No more.

A loud thunk came from the basement, and Ansel grunted.

“Are you okay?” Jazzi went to the door to hold it open.

“This bench isn’t heavy. I thought I could manage it myself, but it’s awkward.”

Jazzi went to grab an end and help him carry it up. She studied it and shook her head. “It’s an old garden bench. I hope he paints it if he’s using it in his living room.”

Ansel laughed. “I promised to help him sand it and give it a coat of glossy blue. Either that, or he’d use it, as is. My brother doesn’t care too much about matching furniture.”

“He loves our house.” She scanned the big open kitchen and sitting area they’d lovingly redone.

Ansel followed her gaze, as proud of their house as she was. They’d remodeled it with entertaining in mind. “Why wouldn’t he? But if my brother doesn’t marry a woman with the gift of decorating, we’ll be sitting on hodgepodge couches and chairs for a long time.”

“I heard that!” Radley called, coming to join them. He set down the two wooden chairs he’d carted from the attic. “And you’re right.” He nodded to his brother. “Let me help you carry that to your van.”

Jazzi went to toss the salad she’d serve with the enchiladas. Glancing out the kitchen windows, she frowned at the white expanse of snow covering their backyard. When she and Ansel had tied the knot before Christmas, they’d intended to go on their honeymoon the first week of February, flying to some place tropical during the Midwest winter. But then Radley had moved in with them and Jerod’s baby was due, so they’d decided they didn’t want to leave. They’d figure out a time to honeymoon once everything settled down.

Jazzi sighed. Life didn’t always go according to plan.

The stove buzzer rang and she took the two pans of enchiladas out of the oven, putting them on the stainless-steel countertop to cool. While the men carted Radley’s things to Ansel’s van, she’d opted to stay out of their way and cook. When they returned to grab the small wooden table Radley had found with the chairs in the attic, they came to inspect her work.

“The cheese is all melted and gooey.” Radley reached to snitch a bite, but she slapped his hand.

“It’s too hot. You’ll burn your fingers and your mouth. Yours will cool enough to eat on the way to your apartment.”

He snitched a piece anyway and winced when he swallowed it. “Have I told you that Ansel did a good job when he married you? Thanks for putting up with me so long. It took me till now to buy a used van and find a place to live.”

The used van rankled her. “It was tacky that your dad didn’t send you the money he got when he sold your old car.”

Radley shrugged. “It wasn’t worth much. He used the money to pay for extra help until he and Bain got used to the new workload since I’m not there.”

Right. He’d kept the money to punish Radley.

She put her hands on her hips. “Your dad wouldn’t even send you your clothes.”

“No loss there. Most were barn clothes. I had two good outfits for when we went to town, which wasn’t often.”

Radley was being more generous than his idiot father deserved. As far as she was concerned, Ansel’s dad and brother were self-absorbed tyrants. Until Radley had gotten his first paycheck, all he had to wear were the clothes he’d packed to come for their wedding. He didn’t even have much of a savings because the farm hadn’t paid that well lately. Bain had kept most of the profits in an account to cover expenses.

“I think serfs got treated better than you. Your dad and Bain had enough money for their new vehicles.”

Radley’s crooked smile blossomed. “You’re a great friend to have in my corner.”

She waved him away. His blue eyes were twinkling and he was enjoying himself too much. “Do you have everything yet?”

“I only have one small load to go. Jerod drove to Walker’s to get a recliner he’s getting rid of. Thank heavens he decided to get a new one in his lower level. They’ll meet me at 3F.”

She pressed her lips together. “You’re sure not starting out with much.”

“Are you kidding? You’re even giving me the queen-size air mattress you bought when the house was too full of people at your wedding, and Thane’s donating an old chest of drawers from his bachelor days he’s kept in his garage.”

Jazzi tried to picture the hodgepodge of used furniture and shook her head. “Call me when you’re ready to leave and I’ll grab my coat.”

This February had been mild compared to last year. So far, no ice. Lots of snow, but the city kept the streets cleaned, salted, and sanded. The stove buzzer rang again, and Radley paused before grabbing his clothes. He turned to see what she brought out of the oven this time, then came back to get a closer look.

“Is that a pie?”

She put it on a trivet to cool. “Could be. Ansel told me you loved cherry, so I made two of them. One for us, one for you.”

He watched her take out the second one and turn off the oven. “You love to feed people, don’t you?”

“That, and I like spoiling them, if I can.” She’d gotten that gene from Gran. She’d spent many a weekend at her grandma’s house, learning to cook. She wouldn’t have even known how to boil eggs if she had to rely on her mother. Mom and Olivia would rather shop and eat out.

Radley picked off a small piece of piecrust. “You can spoil me any time you want to.”

With a laugh, she shooed him away. “You’d better get the rest of your things, or Ansel will be in here wondering what you’re up to.”

The cats ran, one on each side of him, as he climbed the stairs one last time. George, Ansel’s pug, guarded the house from his dog bed with his eyes shut, as usual. She went to look out the window to see what Ansel was doing just in time to see a black pickup park in front of the open garage. Its door flew wide and Bain got out. Oh, fudge! He started to the kitchen door, hands knotted into fists, his lips pulled into a snarl.

Ansel yelled and started after him. “Hey! Wait. What are you doing here?”

Bain reached the door first and banged on it. Jazzi waited until Ansel had caught up with him before opening it. They spilled into the kitchen together, both of them looking angry. Her Norseman didn’t lose his temper often, but Bain pushed all of the wrong buttons for him.

Bain stabbed his finger in her direction. “Where’s Radley?”

“Right here.” Radley didn’t sound a bit perturbed. He set his suitcase and clothes on their long farm table and faced his brother.

“This has gone on long enough,” Bain barked. “We need you at home. Pack your things, and I’ll drive you back.”

“I have packed my things, and I’m moving into my new apartment. I’m not working on the farm anymore.”

“I didn’t ask you. I told you,” Bain snapped. “Get your things and get in my truck.”

“He’s not going.” Ansel moved between Bain and Radley. “He’s staying here.”

“You keep out of this. It’s your fault. You encouraged him to stay.”

“No, he made a choice. Unlike me. You kicked me off the farm, remember? And it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Radley can do better here, too.”

“He’s coming with me. Get out of my way.” When Ansel didn’t move, Bain drew back his fist and swung at him.

Ansel caught his wrist and held it. “I don’t want to fight with you, but I will.” And he’d win. Ansel was six-five of solid muscle.

Bain winced, obviously feeling Ansel’s grip. “Okay, let go.”

“Can you control your temper?”

“I have to, don’t I? But I’m not leaving. Not until I get to talk to Radley.”

“You’ll have to wait till we move his stuff into his apartment. Walker and Jerod are waiting for us there.”

“I’m coming with you, or you’ll move Radley in and won’t bother to tell me where to find him.”

Ansel looked at Radley.

“Let him come. It’s not going to change anything. Maybe he’ll see how many friends I have and be happy for me.”

Fat chance, but Jazzi kept her opinion to herself. Instead, she went to slip on her coat and load Radley’s food into cardboard boxes to carry with her.

Ansel turned to his pug. “Stay, George. We won’t be long, and you’ll only get in the way.”

George stretched and rested his head on his paws. It took a lot to excite Ansel’s dog.

Jazzi rode with Ansel to Radley’s apartment in West Central. Radley rode with Bain. “That way I can give him directions, and we can talk.”

If Radley thought he could reason with him, Jazzi suspected he was wrong. But if anyone would give it a shot, it would be him. He was the most lighthearted of the three brothers.

Jazzi liked the idea of Radley starting out in West Central. When she’d met Ansel, she was renting the bottom floor of an old house there. She loved the neighborhood, within walking distance of downtown. Now, their good friends, Reuben and Isabelle, lived in the tall Victorian she’d called home. They’d restored it to its former glory and returned it to a single family house.

Ansel pulled to the curb in front of Radley’s long, brick apartment building. “Bain must have parked in the back lot.” Only tenants were supposed to park there, but Bain thought rules didn’t apply to him. That was fine with Jazzi. When they left, they wouldn’t have to walk out with him.

They entered the old building and climbed the steps to apartment 3F, carrying the bench between them. They’d come back for the rest later. Radley’s door was open, and Jerod and Walker were angling a recliner so they could fit it inside. The chair was a brown tweed, out of date, but it looked worn and comfortable. Ansel and Jazzi carried the bench in behind them.

Radley put it against the wall in place of a couch. He arranged the chair at an angle beside it, facing his TV. Thane had already come and gone, and his chest of drawers anchored a wall in Radley’s bedroom. There was a quick knock on the door and a man with wavy, sandy colored hair and liquid brown eyes came in, carrying a round coffee table. He reminded her of a cocker spaniel. “I used it as a nightstand, but bought a new one last week.”

Radley gave a quick nod to him. “Hey, everyone, this is my supervisor at work, Donovan.” He made quick introductions.

Jazzi had never met him, but she’d heard a lot about him. Both Thane and Radley rated him highly as a supervisor and friend. He sure looked like a nice guy. He’d make a great neighbor for Radley. If she remembered right, he lived one floor down.

“You sure you don’t need this?” Radley asked. He sat in the chair and plopped his feet on the coffee table. When Donovan grinned, Radley gave him a thumbs-up. “Thanks.”

Bain looked around the apartment and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re leaving the farm to live in this dump with a bunch of hand-me-downs?”

Radley let out a short laugh. “What did we have at the ranch house? Grandma and Grandpa’s old furniture? The beds we slept in as kids?”

Bain’s scowl deepened. “This is other peoples’ rubbish. Open your eyes, Rad, and come home.”

When Radley looked troubled, Donovan jumped in to defend him. “Give him a chance. He’s just starting up. He makes enough money, he can buy a new piece of furniture a week if he wants to. Come to see him again in a few months, and this place will look good.”

Bain glared at him. “First of all, I don’t know you, and I don’t care what you think. This is family business. You’re not family, so butt out.”

Radley pushed to his feet. “That’s enough.”

Donovan held up his hands in a placating gesture. “No worries. I know all about family drama, have plenty of my own. I’ll leave you guys to it. But, Radley, you have a shot at a fresh start. It’s your choice.” He turned and they heard him walk down the hall and start down the stairs.

“Are you going to listen to him or me?” Bain demanded. “We’ve worked together since we were kids.”

“I’m staying,” Radley told him.

“Dad’s getting older, slowing down. Are you just going to desert him when he needs you?”

“I’ve heard that my whole life. I’m staying.”

Jamming his hands into his pockets, Bain started for the door, too. “Fine. Find out for yourself how much fun it is trying to make it on your own.”

His footsteps pounded down the stairs, and Ansel frowned at Radley.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Radley shrugged. “You know Bain’s temper. He’ll stew and grumble, then get over it in a while.”

That’s when they heard a gunshot. They all looked at each other, then raced for the top of the stairs.

Chapter 2

When they hesitantly made their way to the second floor, Jazzi pointed at Donovan stumbling out of his apartment, his hand pressed to his chest. Blood covered it and dripped down his arm. As he tried to walk toward them, his knees buckled and he fell.

They ran to him. Jerod and Radley knelt beside him, and Jazzi reached for her cell phone to call 911. Then she called Detective Gaff. She’d worked with him on previous murders. More of them than she should ever have had to deal with.

“A man’s been shot at the apartments on Berry Street, apartment 2D,” she told him. “He’s in bad shape. I called 911. Are you on duty today?”

“I’m working a homicide not far away. Give me fifteen minutes.”

Jazzi wasn’t sure Donovan had that long. There was so much blood. It spread beneath him and oozed out of the exit wound in his back.

“We need to apply pressure to the wound.” Radley pressed both hands to Donovan’s back, pressing down hard. Relief flooded her when sirens approached the building and EMS techs hurried up the steps. Everyone stood back out of the way, to let them do their jobs.

Walker’s voice shook when he asked her, “Is Gaff coming?” He’d worked with the detective when his dad, Darby, was killed. He respected him.

“He’ll be here soon.” She hoped it was only to solve a shooting, not a murder. She willed Donovan to hang on, to make it.

Walker leaned against the wall to wait. Ansel grabbed her hand, though, and pulled her after him. When she glanced back at the medics, Ansel tugged harder.

“What is it?”

“Where’s Bain?” His voice cracked with tension.

“Bain? He left.”

“Hurry!” He practically dragged her after him. They got out of the building before cops arrived. He headed straight to the back lot and found his brother searching through his pickup in near panic.

“Did you hear the shot?” Ansel asked.

Bain’s face drained of color. “Someone must have seen me walk back to my truck to put our gun in the glove compartment. It’s gone. Somebody stole it.”

Ansel stared. “I told you it was a stupid idea to buy a gun.”

“Dad bought it when we drove here for your wedding. He said every big city was filled with violence. He insisted I bring it to get Radley.”

Jazzi studied the glove compartment. No marks on it. No marks on the truck’s doors either. “No windows are broken or doors jammed. How did someone get in?”

Bain swallowed hard. “I never lock it. No need to on the farm or in our small town. I just forgot.”

Ansel raked a hand through his white-blond hair. “There’s no way to prove anyone took it.”

Bain pressed his eyes shut, rubbed his forehead. “But why would I shoot anyone here? I don’t know anybody in River Bluffs.”

“It’s Donovan, and you just argued with him. He’s lost a lot of blood. You’d better come with us. Detective Gaff is going to want to question you.” Ansel waited for his brother to follow him, but Bain stood rooted to the spot.

“This is going to look bad. I’ve heard about big city cops. They pin a crime on anyone to close a case. I just fought with Donovan. It was my gun.”

Ansel frowned at him. “You’ve listened to Dad too long. Cops aren’t like that, especially Gaff. It’s going to look worse if you run. How far do you think you’d get? You’d be pulled over somewhere between here and home.”

Bain gripped the truck’s door handle. Jazzi tried to reason with him. “If you follow us in now, they can check your hands for any residue. If you’d fired the gun, they’d know.”

Bain’s gaze slid to the work gloves on his front seat. “Unless I wore gloves.”

She sighed. He would have to have those right there, wouldn’t he? But Ansel started to return to the building.

“They know where you live,” he said. “Do you want them to arrest you on the farm in front of Mom and Dad?”

Bain’s shoulders sagged and he trailed after Ansel. Jazzi brought up the rear. By the time they reached Donovan’s hallway, the medics were carrying Donovan out on a stretcher. A sheet covered his face.

Jazzi’s limbs felt numb. He’d died? They’d just talked to him, laughed with him. He was nice. Who’d want to hurt him? A tech strode toward his apartment and Jazzi watched him go inside. She froze. The door was open, and she could see that his couch was slashed open and its stuffing thrown everywhere. Books were knocked off shelves, furniture overturned. The door to his bedroom was ajar, and his mattress was cut open, too.

Ansel followed her gaze and grimaced. “Someone was looking for something.”

Radley came to stand next to Bain. “I thought you left.”

Voice low, Bain said, “Whoever shot him used my gun. They took it out. . .