The Body in the Gravel

Book 3: Jazzi Zanders Mystery

by Judi Lynn

Genres: Cozy Mystery; Culinary Cozy Mysteries; Crime Fiction

Synopsis

Even in a lovely town like River Bluffs, Indiana, flipping houses can be a challenge. Especially when there’s the proverbial skeleton in the closet—and a literal corpse in the driveway . . .

House-flipper Jazzi Zanders has her work cut out for her. Her latest flip, which she co-purchased with her fiancée Ansel and cousin Jerod, is a three-story fixer-upper that’s more of a droopy-downer. One corner of the house is sinking and needs to be jacked up with a new cement foundation. That costs money. And causes headaches. And creates a work environment that’s not only hostile, it’s downright deadly . . .

Jazzi knows it’s a tough job. Which is why she hired Darby to lay the cement. But when Darby gets into a fiery argument with the furnace man—and then never shows up to lay gravel for the driveway—Jazzi starts to wonder if the rumors about Darby are true. Did he kill his wife and son and bury them in the yard like some folks claim? When Darby’s dead body comes pouring out of a gravel truck, murder upstages the real estate market as her biggest concern . . .

Release date: September 24, 2019

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 256

Sample

Chapter 1

A spider scurried up the left sleeve of Jazzi’s flannel shirt. She was about to put down her hammer to squash it when a big, tanned hand reached over to smoosh it for her. Ansel flicked the small corpse off her sleeve and grinned at her.

“I know you hate eight-legged creatures.”

That, she did. Snakes? No big deal. There weren’t many poisonous ones in northeast Indiana. Worms? She liked. When she dug them up in her flower beds, she carefully relocated them. A teeny, weenie spider? It must die. “Thanks for killing it.”

His grin grew wider. “When I gave you the engagement ring, that’s what I signed on for. To honor and protect.”

Jerod, driving the last nail into the frame they were building, snorted. Her cousin had spent most of their childhood tormenting her, and Jazzi had happily repaid him in kind. “My Franny hates spiders, too. Must be a girl thing.” He sat back on his heels to survey their work. A flower bed had rimmed this side of the house at one time, but only a few sagging mums and sedums remained. After they’d dug a trench to expose the crumbling foundation at this corner, they’d built a frame to hold new cement. Jazzi’s back wasn’t used to so much bending. Jerod pressed a hand to the small of his back, too. “I’d say we’re ready to call Darby to pour the concrete.”

They’d worked with Darby ever since they’d started their fixer-upper business. He was a cantankerous old coot, but he charged decent prices and was dependable. He’d given them a fair estimate for the concrete to rebuild this section of the foundation. They’d had to jack up the corner of the house to repair it. The driveway’s cement was in even worse shape and needed to be completely replaced. Darby had given them a lower bid than they’d expected for that job, too.

Jazzi started toward the two-car garage at the back of the yard. She’d left her toolbox there. Some of the houses in this older neighborhood had only small, one-car garages that faced an alley, but the house they’d bought had been a standout when it was built—three stories of yellow brick, with its own drive. When they finished renovating it, it would be a standout again. “Let’s ask if Darby can come in an hour. I’m ready for lunch.”

They’d known it would be a bear to fix the sagging corner, and the job had taken even longer than they’d estimated. It had taken all morning to finish the framing, and Jazzi needed a break. She’d brought a cooler full of chips and buns, and sloppy joe mix in an insulated container. When the weather was hot, she’d brought a cooler filled with cans of beer, too, but once the temperature dropped, she lugged two large thermoses of coffee instead.

Jerod punched Darby’s number on his cell phone and set up a time for him to deliver the cement. When he finished, he nodded to Jazzi. “He’ll be here at about one-thirty.”

Perfect. They trundled inside the empty house and gathered at the card table and four chairs they’d brought. Ansel’s pug, George, opened an eye to greet them, then returned to his nap. Ansel took the dog with him everywhere possible. He swore George got depressed when he was left alone. Jazzi wasn’t sure about that, but Ansel’s doggie devotion never wavered, so she didn’t argue the point. If Ansel loved her half as much as he did his pug, they’d be together forever.

Ansel glanced around the room and shook his head. “I’m glad this is early October. We should be able to get all of the outside work done before we start in here. We might never get everything finished inside.”

Jazzi looked at the list of projects, arranged in the order they should tackle them, tacked to the kitchen wall. They’d never bought a fixer-upper that needed so much work. “This house should keep us out of trouble for a long, long time.”

Jerod went for a second sloppy joe. “This is going to make working on my basement on Saturdays look like a piece of cake.”

After working on her sister, Olivia’s, house, Jazzi had sworn she’d never work on Saturdays again, but how could she say no to Jerod? His Franny was carrying their third child. She and Jerod would have three kids under five running underfoot. Gunther was four now and Lizzie one-and-a-half. She understood why Jerod wanted to make the dry, deep basement of his big, square farmhouse into a playroom. Jerod had sweetened the deal by promising that he’d never expect them to show up to work before ten in the morning. He knew how Jazzi liked to sleep in on the weekends.

Ansel scanned the list again. “Your project’s going to be a breeze compared to this. If we’re lucky, we can have yours done in a month.”

Jerod gave a wicked grin. “Let’s hope so. You two tie the knot on November tenth. You’ll be feeling frisky for a while after that. Won’t be interested in installing ceiling tiles or indoor-outdoor carpet.”

Jazzi rolled her eyes. Jerod was always giving her free advice and opinions. “We already live together. We’re not going on a honeymoon until late February when we’re sick of winter and can fly somewhere with sunshine. Nothing’s going to change that much.”

“Yeah, yeah, I thought the same thing when I said I do to Franny, but believe me, when you make it official, it feels different.”

“It means there’s no going back.” Ansel looked absolutely delighted with that. “Jazzi will be stuck with me till I conk off.”

She’d be living every girl’s dream. Women looked at Ansel and melted. She gave a dramatic sigh. “Poor me.”

Jerod laughed, ready to tease them, when they heard a vehicle pull into the driveway. They tossed their paper plates in the trash as they went to see who was there. Had Darby come early? But her sister Olivia’s live-in boyfriend, Thane, was walking to the house when they spilled out of it. He saw them and gave a quick wave. “I had a minute, so thought I’d come over and look at the furnace you’re worried about. My crew and I are installing a new high-efficiency one not far from here.”

Jerod motioned to Thane’s van. “You’d better park it on the curb. We’re having cement delivered in fifteen minutes.”

Thane knew about work sites. He moved his van, then followed Jerod into the basement. Jazzi was glad she’d opened its windows to get rid of some of the musty smell down there. When a house was closed up for a while, smells bloomed and lingered. Jerod was saying, “The furnace still kicks on when we turn up the thermostat, but the thing looks ancient.”

He and Thane disappeared inside, and Ansel went to the front porch to grab the trowels they’d need to smooth the cement. He handed her one when Darby backed into the cracked driveway. He parked so the chute from his truck could reach the back corner of the house. They had to yell to be heard over the noise from the tank mixing the concrete. Man, what a racket! But it was quick work to fill the wooden frame they’d built; then Darby turned off the truck’s engine. Hopping down to inspect his job, he gave a satisfied nod. “Looks good to me.”

“Me, too,” Ansel agreed.

Darby had always been a bit rough around the edges, but Jazzi had never seen him so unkempt. He was in his mid-fifties, and his longish gray hair flew around his head. His huge mustache and bushy eyebrows reminded her of Yosemite Sam on the old cartoons, and his sideburns could double as fuzzy slippers. Even his clothes looked like they could use a wash.

Jerod came out to inspect the job, too. “This’ll do it. When the cement sets, we can lower the jacks and bolt the house to the foundation.”

Ansel pinched his lips together and turned to Jerod. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what about the furnace?”

“It’s shot. We have to replace it. Probably some of the ductwork, too.”

Of course. Why wouldn’t the big metal arms sprawling off the furnace need work?

Darby stepped back to get a better view of their new investment. “This is one of your fixer-uppers?”

Ansel nodded. “This’ll be our biggest project yet.”

Darby studied it. “Mind if I ask what you paid for it?”

Jerod answered. “Fifty-six thousand.”

“Will you make money on it?”

“We’re hoping to make forty-five grand if we can keep our budget under control,” Jerod said. “We’re going to be at it awhile. Our time is worth something.”

“How do you split the profits?”

Jerod frowned at him. “You’re getting a little personal.”

Darby squirmed. “Just curious. I’ve been saving money for a while. Have a hundred and fifty thousand. Was kind of thinking of buying a fixer-upper for me and the guys to work on during our slow season.”

“Not a bad idea,” Ansel said. “Don’t start with something this major, though. Start small. We split the profits three ways. The costs, too.”

Jerod frowned. He scratched his chin, thinking it over. “Do you know anything about construction or contractor work? You don’t pour much cement through January and February, do you? If you got a house that didn’t need a lot of work, you could finish it in a couple of months if you knew what you were doing.”

Darby tugged on his beard. “Don’t know a thing, but the timing’s right. It’s something to think about. Mind if I take a look around your place and see what needs work?”

“Go for it,” Jerod told him, “but we have to get busy on the cement before it sets. Look at anything you want to.”

“If you look at everything, you’ll be a while,” Ansel warned.

“Thanks. ’Preciate it.” And Darby ducked inside the house.

They were smoothing the cement at the top of the frame when raised voices caught their attention. Darby and Thane must be near the furnace, not that far from the open basement window.

Darby barked a laugh. “It’s none of your business what happened, boy! What? You’re still sad Walker didn’t move in with you? Wasn’t natural how much you liked him, if you ask me.”

Thane’s voice was harsh. “You always did have a dirty mind. I’m not surprised you went there, but Walker would still be here if it wasn’t for you. Funny that he and Rose both left during the night and no one’s heard from them. Where are they, Darby? Buried near some tree at the back of your property?”

“Take that back!” The sound of a fist hitting flesh made them all jump to their feet. Was Darby nuts? Thane was as tall and big as Jerod and Ansel. Of course, Ansel was all muscle, whereas Thane and Jerod were heftier, with more bulk. Darby must only be five-eight and scrawny. He drank more than he ate, from what Jazzi heard.

Ansel pounded down the basement stairs first. Thane had both arms forward, holding Darby away from him. Ansel grabbed Darby’s sleeve and yanked him behind him. “Enough!”

“He started it!” Darby yelled.

“Like hell.” Thane glared, and Darby turned away from him to stomp up the stairs. “Don’t call me if he’s here,” he snarled at Jerod. “If I see him, I’ll turn my truck around and leave.”

They heard the front door slam. Soon, Darby’s cement truck rumbled out of the driveway and disappeared.

Jerod blinked at Thane. “Darn, bud, I’ve never seen you lose it before.”

Jazzi studied his face. Thane looked more than angry. He looked upset. “You okay?”

Thane started for the steps, too. “I’m fine. Darby’s old history.” He glanced back at the furnace. “I filled out an estimate. If you decide on a new model, here.” He handed the sheet of paper to Ansel and left.

The three of them looked at each other. What the heck had just happened?

Chapter 2

“I didn’t even know Thane had a temper,” Jerod said. “I saw him in protective mode when that idiot gutter and siding guy harassed Jazzi in Thane’s driveway once, so I know he can be intimidating when he wants to be. He looked like he’d stuff the guy in his van and kick the van to the next subdivision.”

Ansel wrapped an arm around Jazzi’s waist. “I’d forgotten about that. God help anyone who gives Olivia a hard time when he’s there. Thane’s usually so low-key, I don’t see that side of him much.”

Jazzi tilted her head, thinking. “I wonder what Darby did to get on his bad side. It would take a lot.”

Ansel handed Thane’s estimate to Jerod. He looked at it and winced. “I’m betting we’ll never know. Didn’t look like Thane wanted to talk about it.”

That’s the impression Jazzi had gotten. They started upstairs and got back to their trowels. Cement didn’t wait. Even with her heavy work gloves on, Jazzi could feel her hands drying out. Concrete did that—stole the moisture from your skin. She was glad when they finished with it and returned to the kitchen and the list that they’d pinned on the wall.

Jerod let out a long breath when he took a close look at its length. “Okay, we can cross off fixing the foundation. Next, we have breaking up the driveway, building frames for it, and pouring a new one.”

Ansel said, “The way the driveway slants, it wouldn’t hurt to pour a gravel base.”

“Not a bad idea.” Jerod scribbled that on the list, too. “We’ll call Darby for a load of gravel, lay the wire on top of that, then pour the concrete.”

“That’ll keep us busy for a while. Every job we start here needs extra work.” At the rate they were going, Jazzi would be surprised if they finished the house before she and Ansel left for their honeymoon.

Jerod waved that away. “We’re a great team. We’ll have the driveway done by the end of the week.”

Ansel raised a blond eyebrow. “Ya think?”

“Not really, but did it make you feel better to hear that?”

Her Viking nodded; she’d chosen the nickname for him since he was tall, fair, and Norse. His voice dripped sarcasm. “Yeah, I like fairy tales.”

Jerod nodded in her direction. “You haven’t seen Jazzi man a wheelbarrow.”

If he expected her to sprint with a full load of broken cement, he’d lost his grip on reality. It wasn’t going to happen.

Jerod took his cell phone out of his pocket to glance at the time. “Three-thirty. What if we call it quits today and drive to my place to look at the basement?”

Ansel nodded agreement. “No need to lean on the jackhammer and start breaking up the driveway now. It can wait till tomorrow.”

Ansel picked up George to carry the pug to his work van. Jazzi locked up the house behind them; she slid onto the passenger seat, and they followed Jerod south to his place. When they passed a house on Fairfield, Jazzi noticed Thane’s work van parked in its driveway. They’d make sure that Darby had finished making deliveries at their place before they called Thane to put in a furnace. He and Darby must have more history than he wanted them to know.

They turned off Fairfield onto Airport Express. George, as usual, curled on the back seat and slept. Jerod’s old farmhouse lay fifteen minutes past the south side of River Bluffs on two acres of property. A sturdy picket fence surrounded the pond Jerod had dug at the back of the long yard—a safety measure to ensure the kids never tried to swim unchaperoned. The white two-story had green shutters and a green tin roof. Franny opened the door for them when they climbed the steps to the front porch, and Jazzi squeezed past her stomach. Franny wasn’t due until the middle of February, but she looked ready to pop now. Gunther and Lizzie ran to hang on Ansel’s legs when they saw him, and he stomped around the entry while they laughed and giggled.

Jerod looked disgusted. “I see how I rate. I only feed you and keep a roof over your heads, and you ignore me for Norseman.”

“Norseman!” Gunther cried. Ansel’s other nickname. Jazzi’s fiancée was mostly Norwegian with white-blond hair and blue eyes. When he knelt on the floor for the two kids to climb on his back for a horsey ride, Jazzi watched his luscious fanny as he crawled away from her.

He must have felt her gaze on him, because he glanced at her over his shoulder with a grin.

Franny was drooling, too, until she winced and put a hand to her stomach. At Jazzi’s questioning look, she said, “The baby kicked. He does that a lot.”

“He?” Jerod stared at his wife.

She pushed loose strands of carrot-colored hair away from her face and smiled. “I visited the doctor today, remember? He sent me for an ultrasound.”

Jerod raised his arms in a victory symbol. “A boy!”

Franny frowned. “Would you have been disappointed if it was a girl?”

“Not if she has orange hair and freckles like you.”

He had chosen the right answer. Franny practically glowed.

Ansel circled the dining room table and crawled back to them, nodding for the kids to get off him. They went to pet George. The pug took them in his stride. When Ansel stood, he clapped Jerod on the shoulder. “Congrats! Got a name picked out?”

Jerod raised his eyebrows at Franny. “We’re still haggling. She read a romance where the guy’s name was Zane, and she’s voting for that. It doesn’t do it for me.”

“I kinda like it.” Jazzi looked at Ansel.

He gave a noncommittal shrug. “It’s okay, I guess.”

Franny’s gray eyes lit up. “Oh, Jazzi, you have to read it! Zane’s a prince who can turn into a dragon, and he’s so hot! Dragon Among Them by Kyra Jacobs. You can download it to your Kindle.”

When was the last time she’d read a book that got her hot and bothered? She’d have to look it up.

Jerod looked horrified. “We’re not naming our kid Zane. You’ll have hot flashes every time you think of that prince.”

Franny laughed. “You’re just jealous. We have plenty of time to worry about a name. Right now, I need to go check on supper, and you need to show Jazzi and Ansel the basement.”

Franny started toward their big country kitchen with its huge island, and Jerod led Jazzi and Ansel down the basement steps. He’d rebuilt them so they were sturdy and had railings on both sides. “I don’t want Franny or a kid to fall.”

The basement had plenty of room. Ansel’s attention went to the cement blocks that formed the foundation. “Good and solid,” he said. “All we have to do is put up a moisture barrier, then build frames for drywall.”

Jazzi checked out the cement floors. “The cement’s chipped in places and crumbling on top. Nothing deep. We can pour a thin layer and smooth it out.”

Jerod poked at a small patch of chipped cement with the toe of his work boot. “I don’t want to spend a fortune on this. I thought I’d buy cheap indoor-outdoor carpet to cover the floor once we smooth out the cement. Then the kids can jump rope and skateboard down here if they want to. I want to hang a flat-screen TV, too, so they can watch movies or play video games, and Franny wants me to build a craft table for the far side.”

Ansel looked impressed. “Sounds like kid heaven to me.”

Jerod grinned. “I sure hope so. I’d rather they brought their friends to our house instead of disappearing on us.”

When they climbed the steps again, Franny yelled from the kitchen. “You’re welcome to stay for supper if you want to. I made plenty.”

An acrid smell drifted toward them. Ansel said, “Thanks anyway, but Jazzi has fish thawed at home. It’s been out all day, so we’d better cook it.”

Jazzi gave him a look. She didn’t know her Norseman was so good at fibbing. But he sniffed again and shook his head at her. Jerod had told them over and over again that his wife wasn’t the best cook in America, and Ansel loved good food. He wasn’t willing to risk this.

Jerod raised an eyebrow, but his lips curved in a grin. “I’ve held you up long enough. Go make your supper, and thanks for coming.”

They grabbed George and made their getaway before Franny dished up. On the drive home, Ansel said, “It’s late, and fish does sound good. Let’s stop at Big-Eyed Fish to grab some on our way home.”

He’d get no arguments from her. She loved the fried pollock, wild rice, and coleslaw. George loved fish, too. And she wouldn’t have to cook. Win/win. Besides, her muscles protested more than usual after a job. They’d had to crouch and bend to build the frame for the foundation. When she took a shower tonight, she was going to stand under the hot water for a long time.

Chapter 3

When. . .